Jos Buttler - 'No way' Afghanistan boycott Champions Trophy

jose buttler, Ahead of the men’s teams scheduled to meet in the Champions Trophy next month, the England captain says he does not think there is “no way” to boycott Afghanistan cricket.

The contest, scheduled for Lahore on 26 February, has come under increasing political scrutiny over the past few weeks, following a letter written by Labor MP Tonia Antoniazzi to the ECB’s chief executive Richard Gould, which described it as an “insidious dystopia” and ” Sex” was called for. 14 million women are facing apartheid under the ruling Taliban regime in Afghanistan.

In his letter, which was signed by more than 160 British politicians, Antoniazzi urged the England men’s team to “speak out against the horrific treatment of women and girls in Afghanistan under the Taliban”, where the game will be played from 2021. Women’s participation is effectively banned. He said a boycott would send “a clear signal that such egregious abuses will not be tolerated”.

Gould’s response was to reject that call, saying that the case required a “coordinated, ICC-led response” rather than unilateral action from individual countries. His stance was supported by both British Prime Ministers, Keir Starmer, who urged the ICC to “play by their own rules”, and the Sports and Culture Secretary, Lisa Nandy, who argued that such measures were “counterproductive”.

Speaking in Kolkata ahead of the first T20I against India, Buttler insisted he and his team would be led by “experts” but was optimistic that the match would go as planned.

“In political situations like this, as a player you’re trying to stay as informed as possible,” Butler said. “Experts know a lot about it, so I’m trying to stay in conversation with Rob Key [ECB men’s managing director] And the people above to see how they see it. “I don’t think a boycott is the way to go about this.”

This situation echoes the dilemma that England cricketers faced at the 2003 World Cup, when Nasser Hussain’s team was urged to boycott their group-stage match with Zimbabwe, led by Robert Mugabe. was – a decision that was ultimately left up to the players, and resulted in one point being forfeited This ended their qualification for the later stages of the tournament.

However, Butler was confident that no such personal pressure would be tolerated this time.

“The players aren’t really too worried about it,” he said. “These things, you’re trying to educate yourself and read these things. There are some good things written about it that I’ve used and I talked to a few people to try to get expert opinion Is.

“I’m led by those experts on situations like this, but as a player, you don’t want political situations to influence the game. We hope we go to the Champions Trophy and play that game and have a really good There will be a tournament.”

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