IPL 2021: Rashid Khan And Mohammed Nabi’s Participation In UAE Leg In Doubts After Taliban Takes Over Afghanistan

As Afghanistan faces its worst socio-political situation, the participation of Afghan cricketers like Rashid Khan and Mohammed Nabi in the forthcoming leg of IPL 2021 has become a matter of discussion. Taliban is set to take over the regions of the Asian country. Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani has also fled to Tajikistan as the Taliban forces entered the nation’s capital Kabul.

The United States withdrew its troops a few months ago from Afghanistan ending a 20-year-long battle, which made the Taliban even stronger in the country. On Sunday, the Taliban troops entered the outskirts of the capital city  Kabul, urging a transfer of power from President Ashraf Ghani. As a result, the Afghanistan President fled from the country immediately.

Participation Of Afghanistan Players In IPL 2021 In Focus

With chaos rising in the Afghanistan capital, Afghan players like Rashid Khan, Mohammed Nabi, and Mujeeb Ur Rahman might face issues to return back to their home country due to political instability within the nation. Hence, their participation in the second leg of IPL 2021 is also under focus. Currently, Rashid Khan and Mohammed Nabi are in the United Kingdom playing in The Hundred tournament. Rashid is part of team Trent Rockets while Nabi is representing London Spirits.

A BCCI spokesperson informed that the board is keeping a close eye on the developments and hoping that Afghan players are able to take part in the second leg of IPL 2021. The second leg of the tournament is scheduled to commence on September 19 in UAE. “It is too early to comment but we are keeping a watch. For us, nothing changes and we expect Rashid and other Afghan players would be part of IPL,” a BCCI source told PTI. 

Rashid Khan and Mohammed Nabi are both a part of the Sunrisers Hyderabad‘s franchise in IPL. Another Afghan player Mujeeb Ur Rahman is also part of the same franchise and a regular member of the league for the past few seasons. Earlier, Rashid Khan had also urged world leaders to intervene in the country and helps them to come out of chaos.

“Dear World Leaders! My country is in chaos, thousand of innocent people, including children & women, get martyred everyday, houses & properties being destructed. Thousands of families displaced. Don’t leave us in chaos. Stop killing Afghans & destroying of Afghanistan. We want peace,” Khan wrote.

Nabi also expressed grief at the tragedy rising in his home country. He wrote, “As an Afghan, I bleed to see where my beloved country is today. Afghanistan descends into Chaos and there has been a substantial rise in calamity and tragedy and is currently in a humanitarian crisis. Families are forced to leave their homes behind and head to Kabul with an unknown future”.

Now it is to be seen how the Afghan players make way to UAE for IPL 2021 from the UK. BCCI might help them to board the same flight which is going to take Indian players from the UK to UAE on September 15. The Indian team is currently on a 5-match Test tour to England which ends on September 14. Later, they will fly to UAE for the second leg of IPL 2021.