Australia Test captain Tim Paine believes that the teams could boycott playing Afghanistan or pull out of the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup 2021 after the Taliban reportedly banned women players from playing sports, including cricket, not wanting them to “expose their bodies”.
Afghanistan men's cricket team is scheduled to play in the T20 World Cup 2021 which is to be held from October 17-November 14 in the UAE and Oman and then a one-off Test in Australia, but Cricket Australia has made it clear that they would cancel the game if the Taliban doesn't allow women to play sports including cricket.
Reacting to the same, Paine said Australian players are “fully supportive” of CA’s stance and feel the teams could also take a stand at the T20 World Cup 2021 later this year over the matter.
Paine said on SEN sports radio: “I think so. I think it will be something discussed team-by-team. To see them pull off the tournament or have countries boycott it will literally, I think, be something that teams will discuss on the eve of that World Cup.”
He added, “We've heard literally no comment from the ICC so it will be interesting to see where that lands. If teams are pulling out of playing against them and governments are not letting them travel to our shores, how a team like that can be allowed to play in an ICC-sanctioned event is going to be very hard.”
On Taliban banning women from playing sports, Paine said: “With what's going on with the Taliban, they are banning women from playing any sport that has implications at an ICC level.”
He signed off by saying, “And then secondly, from a female's point of view, from a human rights point of view, to exclude half your population from being able to do something is not on. I don't think we want to be associated with countries that are taking opportunities off literally half their population.”
(With AFP Inputs)
