Rashid Khan: Rashid Khan gave a befitting reply to Cricket Australia! He decided to withdraw from this tournament

Afghanistan’s T20 team captain Rashid Khan has decided to withdraw from the upcoming season of the Big Bash League. This is the second consecutive year when Rashid will not participate in this tournament. Rashid’s name is not in the player draft for the tournament. The draft for the new season of Big Bash is to be held on September 1.

Rashid Khan has probably taken this decision due to the stubborn attitude of Cricket Australia (CA). Under the ICC’s Future Tour Program, a three-match T20 series was proposed between Australia and Afghanistan this month. Afghanistan was to host this series, but Australia had pulled out.

Cricket Australia had said that the human rights of women and girls are being violated under the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. Because of this, their team will not play a bilateral series against Afghanistan. CA chief executive Nick Hockley had said that there has been regular dialogue with the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) on this matter and it is hoped that both teams will start playing with each other sometime in the future.

Hockley had said, ‘We maintain a close relationship and regular dialogue with the Afghanistan Cricket Board. We want cricket to flourish around the world for both men and women. We hope to make progress and continue to maintain discussions and contact with the Afghanistan Cricket Board, with the goal of resuming bilateral cricket with Afghanistan at some point in the future.

The Australian team has refused to play bilateral series with Afghanistan on three occasions, citing human rights violations of girls and women under the Taliban regime. But it has continued to face it in ICC events. Rashid Khan has already criticized the decision of the Australian Cricket Board. After Afghanistan’s famous victory over Australia in the T20 World Cup, Usman Khawaja had also questioned Cricket Australia’s stance.

Rashid Khan recently represented Trent Rockets in The Hundred tournament held in England. Rashid is an excellent spinner and has played for many teams in franchise cricket. Rashid Khan has played 69 matches for Adelaide Strikers in Big Bash so far, in which he has 98 wickets to his name.