Afghanistan's rise on the international cricketing stage has been an inspiring tale. For a country with little to no history of the sport, as well as poor economic conditions, the talent that has emerged has been nothing short of extraordinary.
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However, in recent years the development of the team has stagmated a bit, partly due to their in-between status among the world's powers. They rarely play the top sides in the world apart from at international tournaments, and often prove too strong for associate nations.
As a result, the organisation of a three-match T20 series with Australia, scheduled for August, was a massive boost. However, there has been some bad news regarding that tour.
Why did Australia pull out of the Afghanistan T20I series? Will it be rescheduled?
On Tuesday, Cricket Australia (CA) released a statement saying that they would not be taking part in this series as result of the restrictions placed upon women's sport and athletes by the Taliban, which took control of Afghanistan in 2021.
The statement read,
For this reason [restrictions on women by the Taliban], we have maintained our previous position and will postpone the bilateral series against Afghanistan.
CA continues its strong commitment to supporting participation by women and girls in cricket around the world and will continue to actively engage the International Cricket Council and work closely with the Afghanistan Cricket Board to determine what actions could be taken to support the resumption of bilateral matches in the future.
This is the third time Australia have pulled out of a scheduled series with Afghanistan. In November 2021, they cancelled a one-off Test to be held in Hobart before withdrawing from a three-match ODI series in 2023. As of now, this tour stands 'postponed', with no news on when it could be played.
Ahead of the sides' meeting at the recently-concluded World Cup, Afghanistan pacer Naveen-ul-Haq questioned on social media whether Australia would boycott that match as well. They did not, with CA saying that the situations were different when it came to bilateral series in their control versus global tournaments which are organised by the ICC.
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