"Allowing Afghanistan cricketers to play in BBL" - Usman Khawaja takes aim at CA, exposes double standards

Australian batter Usman Khawaja has spoken in favor of Afghanistan after Australia's loss to the Asian giant killers. Afghanistan's win over Australia has brought them back into contention for the race to the semi-finals.

Australia will play their final Super 8 game against India and face a must-win situation if they are to make it to the semis. A loss for Australia and a win for Afghanistan against Bangladesh will see the Afghans through to the semis along with India.

Afghanistan with their previous win against the Kiwis knocked them out of the tournament. This win can also be potentially campaign-defining for the Afghans. Meanwhile. Usman Khawaja, an Australian batter in a recent event in Melbourne spoke about the need for an Australia-Afghanistan rivalry.

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"I personally think yes we should be playing Afghanistan. I am sympathetic to both sides of the puzzle. I totally respect and agree with a lot of aspects of the stance Cricket Australia has in terms of women's cricket in Afghanistan, but there's also another side to it, of promoting and growing the game" Khawaja told Nine Newspapers at an Amazon Prime event in Melbourne.

Cricket Australia opted out of playing against Afghanistan multiple times. The first was a Test match and the second was a T20I series citing "a marked deterioration in human rights for women and girls". However, the two teams continue to face each other in ICC events. They faced each other thrice in the last three years in ICC events. First time in T20 World Cup 2022, then again in the ODI World Cup, and now in the T20 World Cup again with Afghanistan finally tasting success against Australia.

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Khawaja also recollected talking to Rashid Khan about Cricket Australia's stance on playing against Afghanistan. He said that he was disappointed and hence thought about pulling out from the BBL.

"This is the second time Australia have backed out of a bilateral series, and I talked to Rashid Khan. He was really disappointed, more so because the Afghanistan people love cricket, and for them cricket is one of the few things they enjoy and brings happiness, and the fact they were going to play Australia was going to be huge, and they don't get to see that now. So it actually hurts the people, and the people are separate from the government" Khawaja added.

They Should 100 Percent Play: Usman Khawaja On Australia Playing Afghanistan

Khawaja further spoke about Cricket Australia's "hypocrisy" of allowing the Afghan players to play in the BBL but not playing any bilateral international cricket.

"It's a little bit hypocritical too if we say no we're not going to play Afghanistan, but then allowing Afghanistan cricketers to play in the BBL. They 100 percent should [play], but then how do you do one and not the other," said Khawja.

Afghanistan skipper Rashid Khan also spoke about the same after his team's win over Australia in the T20 World Cup. Now Afghanistan's future in this tournament rests on the India-Australia result.

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