Hashmatullah Shahidi on women’s cricket in Afghanistan and what he feels about the current state of the women’s game.
Hashmatullah Shahidi has voiced his support for Afghanistan’s women to play cricket, but reiterated that the situation was something “we cannot control”
Shahidi said his team’s attention was still on what transpired “inside the ground” ahead of Afghanistan’s training session before their Champions Trophy match against England in Lahore on Wednesday.
The role that Afghanistan is playing has brought the issue into closer focus. More than 160 UK lawmakers demanded in the weeks preceding this match that the ECB boycott the match against Afghanistan in protest of the Taliban government’s prohibition on women playing cricket in the nation. The ICC was urged to “enforce their own rules” by UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, but the ECB finally turned down requests to boycott the match.
“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 in 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.”
Alongside other well-known Afghan cricket players who have voiced their support for women’s rights in Afghanistan, he made a more circumspect expression of support. Late last year, when women were prohibited from pursuing medical training, Rashid Khan and Muhammad Nabi were the most vocal.
When confirming earlier this month that the match will take place, England captain Jos Buttler said his squad was “very saddened” by the condition faced by women and children in Afghanistan, which the ECB has referred to as “gender apartheid.”
“I’ve taken a lot of advice from lots of experts,” Buttler said. “Credit to Rob Key and the ECB. They have been very good at supporting me and all the players, and giving us information and education around this, and making it an ECB decision.
“We’re very saddened at the plight of women and girls in Afghanistan at the moment, and the struggles they are facing. But we hope that the game tomorrow can be a source of hope and enjoyment in what is obviously a tough time at the moment. We’re very excited about the match. Sport has a great power to unite people and give hope, and that’s what we hope this game will do.”