Cricket Australia has maintained its stance of not playing any bilateral cricket with Afghanistan as a protest against the Taliban government’s stance of not allowing women to play any kind of sport. Recently, the Afghan government even shut down nursing colleges, against which senior cricketers like Rashid Khan and Mohammad Nabi raised their voices.

Outgoing ICC Chairman Greg Barclays recently criticized Cricket Australia’s hypocritical behavior for agreeing to play in ICC events but not engaging in bilateral events. However, Cricket Australia Chair Mike Baird stated that they are comfortable with their stance.

“I saw those comments this morning, and I hadn’t heard those views before in kind of any forum,” Baird said. “So obviously he’s entitled to his view. He’s going on to new things, and we wish him well on that, but we’re very proud of the position we’ve taken. We’re supporting the Afghan women’s cricket team and those members who are still here, and we’ll be doing that at the end of the summer.

“People have different views, of course, but we’re very comfortable with the position we’ve taken. There are all types of lines you can draw. We’ve drawn a line, we’ve taken a position and we’re proudly standing up where we think we should. I think that the event that’s going to come at the end of January is a celebration of women and what we’re seeing in the women’s game in this country. We remain proud of it.”

Meanwhile, India, who are 1-0 up in the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy, demanded to have nets without fans after a section of people hurled abuse at the team during their nets session in Adelaide. However, the CA chair took a diplomatic stance on the issue, saying the home team would continue to have fans during their nets. 

“It’s obviously a difficult time when you’re going into a competitive Test series, and different teams will take different approaches. We totally understand that. There’s a huge pressure that comes, all types of things that can distract.

“From our point of view, we love the fact that our players are open and available and they enjoy it as well. We want our fans to be connected to these players. It’s a once in a generation team with once in a generation players. That sort of experience, that’s how the game is going to grow. India’s taken a position and we totally respect [that]. We’re going to continue. We’ve done it for a long time.”

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