Cricket is a “hope for treasure” in Afghanistan, says India UN representative Syed Akbaruddin

Afghanistan achieving extraordinary success in cricket, says Indian Ambassador to UN.

Afghanistan is the fastest growing country in the world | Getty Images

India's Permanent UN Ambassador, Syed Akbaruddin, on Tuesday (26 June), claimed that Cricket is a symbol of “hope for treasure” in Afghanistan during a debate on the terror-affected country at the Security Council meeting.

He further said that the problem of terrorism in Afghanistan is not a local one rather the attacks are launched by its neighborhood, hinting at Pakistan and Taliban, as the Islamist attacks regularly shake their homeland.

It is known that Afghanistan is the fastest growing country in the world when it comes to the game of cricket, as they are now a full member of the International Cricket Council when they gained Tests status in 2017 and now they will play in the 2019 World Cup in England.

The BCCI has always extended their support to Afghanistan cricket with open arms. They were given the permission by BCCI earlier to stage their base in Greater Noida for practice. They were also offered the Dehradun international cricket stadium as their home ground where they hosted Bangladesh for a T20I series before playing their first ever Test match against India earlier this month. 

Meanwhile, Mr. Akbaruddin has termed Afghanistan cricket team’s emergence as “the new sensation in the cricketing arena”, as well as, hoping to play them at their home soil in the near future.

As per reports in IANS, Akbaruddin said, “Leaving behind the memories when sports was explicitly banned by the Taliban in Afghanistan, the nation’s team has been achieving extraordinary success. While having made cricket grounds in India their home base, Afghan cricketers have flourished. However, we look forward to the day when we too can play cricket with them on their soil.”

Pointing fingers at Pakistan, Akbaruddin said that the resilience of the Afghan people was being tried by the terrorist attack like the spring offensive from the Taliban. He added, “Such offensives are planned and launched from safe havens in the neighborhood of Afghanistan.”

He signed off by saying, “Notwithstanding the efforts made by the international community there are still those who provide sanctuaries to support the dark agendas of terrorist organisations like the Taliban, Haqqani Network, IS, Al Qaeda, Lashkar-e-Toiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad. We do not need a catastrophe again to remind us that Afghanistan requires strong and steady international support in elimination of what is a threat to global peace and security.”

 
 

By Rashmi Nanda - 27 Jun, 2018

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