Afghanistan Cricket / Taliban

[eugene]

Any predictions on what will happen to cricket in Afghanistan now that the Taliban are back in-charge? A team in exile surely can't last long without a solid domestic scene back home. How does one unearth new talent if the entire team is based in India? I know previously the Taliban supported cricket, but they are likely still the same stone-age barbarians they were previously so we will see what that means for cricket. I doubt anyone will be wanting to play in the Afghan T20 League anymore.

[slcricfan1]

Any predictions on what will happen to cricket in Afghanistan now that the Taliban are back in-charge? A team in exile surely can't last long without a solid domestic scene back home. How does one unearth new talent if the entire team is based in India? I know previously the Taliban supported cricket, but they are likely still the same stone-age barbarians they were previously so we will see what that means for cricket. I doubt anyone will be wanting to play in the Afghan T20 League anymore.

thought you were calling the afg team the taliban lol

[Kriterion_BD]

Heartbreaking turn of events for Afghanistan. This decision will haunt Biden for the remainder of his presidency...

We'll find out in the coming days and weeks what becomes of Afghan cricket...if the Taliban don't support them, the Afghan cricket will die a most tragic death. Will be the end of Spageeza T20 league or whatever it was called.

They need to do all they can to maintain domestic cricket, but my gut says sponsorships will be extremely hard to come by. Even if the Taliban allow/supprt cricket, the money will run dry and the game will cease to exist.

[CrimsonAvenger]

Yeah, it's anybody's guess what the future of cricket is. Sad for a whole generation of cricketers coming through. Current national team could position themselves in India or UAE for a while and see how it goes, but what about the growth of the game in the country?

[slcricfan1]

Yeah, it's anybody's guess what the future of cricket is. Sad for a whole generation of cricketers coming through. Current national team could position themselves in India or UAE for a while and see how it goes, but what about the growth of the game in the country?

the taliban themselves seem to support cricket because it doenst have shorts and stuff like football. They even play it I think. But yeah funding is gonna be tough

[slcricfan1]

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/spo ... 367886.cms

https://zeenews.india.com/cricket/afgha ... 85523.html

[eugene]

I imagine the Taliban will seek out ZC to learn how to still get ICC money but not really organize much of anything.

https://www.msn.com/en-in/sports/other/ ... NewsSearch

This story seems to suggest that most of the national team players are in Kabul and training.

Honestly the best thing for the Afghanistan cricket (not necessarily the country itself) would be the Taliban being internationally recognized as the new government and avoiding sanctions that would make sponsorship deals impossible. I have serious doubts this will happen, but perhaps the Taliban will run a similar regime to Iran? An Iran-like government is the very best scenario for the country at this point.

[Kriterion_BD]

I imagine the Taliban will seek out ZC to learn how to still get ICC money but not really organize much of anything.

https://www.msn.com/en-in/sports/other/ ... NewsSearch

This story seems to suggest that most of the national team players are in Kabul and training.

Honestly the best thing for the Afghanistan cricket (not necessarily the country itself) would be the Taliban being internationally recognized as the new government and avoiding sanctions that would make sponsorship deals impossible. I have serious doubts this will happen, but perhaps the Taliban will run a similar regime to Iran? An Iran-like government is the very best scenario for the country at this point.

Its possible. In 2001, the only countries that recognized them were Saudi Arabia, UAE, and Pakistan. This time China and Russia seem to be in the mix and they have all the money.

The best case (for the country and for cricket) would be if NATO can convince the Taliban to moderate their behavior (allow women to work/school, ensure civil rights for the population) in return for some degree of integration into the world economic system. Money talks for everyone.

[eugene]

I imagine the Taliban will seek out ZC to learn how to still get ICC money but not really organize much of anything.

https://www.msn.com/en-in/sports/other/ ... NewsSearch

This story seems to suggest that most of the national team players are in Kabul and training.

Honestly the best thing for the Afghanistan cricket (not necessarily the country itself) would be the Taliban being internationally recognized as the new government and avoiding sanctions that would make sponsorship deals impossible. I have serious doubts this will happen, but perhaps the Taliban will run a similar regime to Iran? An Iran-like government is the very best scenario for the country at this point.

Its possible. In 2001, the only countries that recognized them were Saudi Arabia, UAE, and Pakistan. This time China and Russia seem to be in the mix and they have all the money.

The best case (for the country and for cricket) would be if NATO can convince the Taliban to moderate their behavior (allow women to work/school, ensure civil rights for the population) in return for some degree of integration into the world economic system. Money talks for everyone.

Do you think an Iran model is the best case scenario or is that too ambitious? And by that I mean, a clerical leadership at the top with some political system operating underneath. The Taliban must surely realise in the age of social media they can't just go back to the stone age, it is much easier for people to put up resistance these days.

[Kriterion_BD]

Do you think an Iran model is the best case scenario or is that too ambitious? And by that I mean, a clerical leadership at the top with some political system operating underneath. The Taliban must surely realise in the age of social media they can't just go back to the stone age, it is much easier for people to put up resistance these days.

Who knows. I suspect the real shot callers here will be the Chinese and or Russians. This is why a low level US presence was required. From what I heard it would have taken a fraction of the troops (and money) than we still have in South Korea or Taiwan or even Germany.

For now cricket seems to be OK. Men's cricket at least. The ACB was actually established in 1997 under the Taliban so there seems to be precedent for the game. The current ACB chief does however expect women's cricket to be curtailed if not cancelled alltogether.