The England white-ball skipper believes that the match should go ahead as planned and added that political situations shouldn’t affect the sport
England white-ball skipper Jos Buttler believes that boycotting their Champions Trophy clash against Afghanistan is not the right way to go forward and added that the match should go ahead as planned.
Earlier this month, more than 160 UK politicians signed a letter arguing that England should refuse to play the ODI against Afghanistan which will take place in Lahore on February 26 to take a stand against the Taliban regime’s assault on women’s rights.
Women were banned from participating in sport after the Taliban regained power in 2021, forcing the Afghanistan women’s cricket team to flee the country.
“Political situations like this, as a player you’re trying to be as informed as you can be. The experts know a lot more about it, so I’ve been trying to stay in dialogue with Rob Key [the ECB men’s managing director] and the guys above to see how they see it,” Buttler was quoted as saying by The Guardian.
“I don’t think a boycott is the way to go about it. The players haven’t really worried too much about it. You’re trying to educate yourself and read up on these things,” Buttler added.
“There’s been some good stuff written about it that I’ve tapped into and I’ve spoken to quite a few people to try and gather expert opinion. I’m led by those experts on situations like this, but as a player you don’t want political situations to affect sport. We hope to go to the Champions Trophy and play that game and have a really good tournament,” Buttler further added.
Ahead of the Champions Trophy, the England team will be locking horns against India in a 5-match T20I series and a 3-match ODI series. The white-ball series will turn out to be a good way to practice for both the teams for the upcoming ICC tournament.
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