Afghanistan cricket team captain Hashmatullah Shahidi has backed Afghan women’s right to play the sport. However, he stressed that the matter was out of his hands. Hashmatullah Shahidi‘s remarks came during a training session ahead of Afghanistan’s ICC Champions Trophy match against England in Lahore on Wednesday.
Afghanistan captain Hashmatullah Shahidi has expressed his support for Afghan women’s rights to play cricket but also acknowledged that they can only control things on the ground, not politics. Afghanistan National Cricket Team skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi opened up about their Women’s team not playing cricket. He said that they want everyone to play but the situation is out of their control as it’s a political thing.
One of the major political issues that is there in the cricketing world is Afghanistan women not playing cricket. The Taliban government in the country has banned women from playing sports, and this has attracted a lot of negative reactions from people across the globe.
Afghanistan have faced a lot of criticism for not allowing women to play cricket
Politicians urge ECB to boycott England’s Champions Trophy game vs Afghanistan as Sir Keir Starmer calls for ICC decision The England and Wales Cricket Board has been urged to boycott next month’s Champions Trophy match against Afghanistan, although UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has called for the International Cricket Council to “deliver their own rules”.
A group of more than 160 politicians, including Nigel Farage, Jeremy Corbyn and Lord Kinnock, have signed a letter encouraging England to shun the game in Lahore on February 26 and take a stand against the Taliban regime’s assault on women’s rights.
Female participation in sport has effectively been outlawed since their return to power in 2021, a move that puts the Afghanistan Cricket Board in direct contravention of the rules of cricket’s governing body, the ICC.
ECB chief executive Richard Gould responded to the letter, which was penned by Labour MP Tonia Antoniazzi, saying that “a coordinated, ICC-wide approach would be significantly more impactful than unilateral actions by individual members.”
That stance has been backed by Downing Street with the PM’s spokesman saying: “The ICC should clearly deliver on their own rules and make sure that they’re supporting women’s cricket as the ECB do. ECB chief executive Richard Gould has said that while its policy on bilaterals continues to be the same, it will be playing Afghanistan in the Champions Trophy as the tournament is an ICC event.
Afghanistan have faced a lot of criticism for not allowing women to play cricket
Cricket Australia has taken a massive stance against it as they canceled the series twice against the Afghanistan National Cricket Team due to the decision of the Taliban government. They categorically mentioned that women’s rights are equally important, and they will only play once the women in the country are allowed to play.
Even the politicians in England, as well as South Africa, called on the ECB and CSA to boycott playing against Afghanistan Men’s National Cricket Team in protest against the Taliban government for their decision to ban women from all aspects of the sports.
Despite the controversy, Hashmatullah Shahidi has maintained that his and the men’s team’s main focus is their upcoming match.
Hashmatullah Shahidi Supports Afghan Women’s Right To Play Cricket
Ahead of Afghanistan’s Champions Trophy clash against England in Lahore, Hashmatullah Shahidi rooted for Afghanistan women to play cricket but admitted that it is beyond his control when politics is involved. His somewhat guarded statement of support lined up with other high-profile Afghan cricketers who have spoken up in support of women’s rights in Afghanistan. Rashid Khan and Mohammad Nabi were most outspoken late last year when they reacted to women being banned from training as doctors.
Hashmatullah Shahidi shared his take on the same, saying that he wants women in his country to play, but it is something they cannot control. He added that they can only control what they can do inside the ground. Speaking to the reports ahead of the game against England National Cricket Team in the ICC Champions Trophy 2025, he said:
“Everyone likes to see everyone play,” Shahidi said.
“When it comes to politics and those things which we cannot control, we are only cricket players. We can control things on the ground.”
“We are sportspersons. We control what we can do inside the ground and we can’t worry about what’s happening out of the ground. We play hard, we work hard, we have good net sessions. So that’s what we’re thinking of.”
Hashmatullah Shahidi talked about their last loss against South Africa in the ICC Champions Trophy 2025, admitting that they didn’t play well. He stressed that there wasn’t much help for their spinners in the wicket as it was suited for fast bowlers. He elaborated:
“I think when we bat first, that gives us more of a chance. But at the same time, we beat teams in the last World Cup also, batting second. But in the South Africa game, I think that the wicket was a little bit more supportive for fast bowling, and when our spinners were bowling, there was no support for them.
“I didn’t even see one ball turning. So yeah, we didn’t play well, especially in batting we didn’t start well. At the same time, it’s not an excuse but the world knows that we have good spinners. I didn’t see any support there, but hopefully, we have some support in tomorrow’s game for our spinners.”
Afghanistan will be facing England in the virtual knockout game on Wednesday. Both the teams lost their opening games and would be keen to make a comeback. The last time these two sides played in an ODI, Afghanistan beat England by 69 runs in Delhi at the 2023 World Cup, when their spinners shared eight wickets.