'Rather than shutting door...' - Tim Paine joins Usman Khawaja in criticizing CA for refusing to play against Afghanistan

Former Australian wicketkeeper-batter Tim Paine expressed his support for playing a cricket series against Afghanistan, which is against Cricket Australia's (CA) stance. Tim Paine stated that Cricket Australia should not boycott playing a bilateral cricket series against the Afghanistan men's national cricket team.

Cricket Australia has consistently refused to play bilateral series with Afghanistan due to restrictions on women's athletes. Afghanistan remains the only full-member nation without a women's cricket team. The situation is unlikely to change anytime soon under the current Taliban government in Afghanistan.

Australia was scheduled to host Afghanistan for a one-off Test in 2021, an ODI series in March 2023, and a three-match T20I series in August 2024, but they pulled out of all these matches. Earlier this year, Cricket Australia also indefinitely postponed a planned T20 series against the Afghanistan cricket team.

Afghanistan and Australia face each other in ICC events despite not playing bilateral series. The Rashid Khan-led team registered a victory in a thrilling match in the T20 World Cup 2024. They almost defeated Australia in the previous year's ODI World Cup, but Glenn Maxwell helped Australia secure the victory.

Following Afghanistan's notable win over Australia in the 2024 T20 World Cup, Rashid Khan said they want to regularly compete against top teams in the world. Rashid mentioned that sports bring the nation together. However, he acknowledged that certain issues are beyond their control and hoped for a solution.

We Don't Have To Abandon - Tim Paine

Tim Paine opposed Cricket Australia's stance of refusing to play a bilateral cricket series against Afghanistan. The former Australia skipper stated that these series could be utilized to raise awareness and support for women's issues in Afghanistan rather than completely avoiding engagement.

“We don’t have to abandon Afghanistan’s men’s cricket team… the bilateral series could be something we use to raise awareness and try to help women in Afghanistan rather than just shutting the door,” Paine said on ESPN.

The Afghanistan National Cricket Team started the T20 World Cup 2024 with three consecutive victories, including against New Zealand, in the group stage. However, the Rashid Khan-led team suffered a heavy 104-run loss against the West Indies in their latest group-stage match in the ongoing ICC tournament.

The team lost to the India national cricket team by 47 runs in their first Super 8 match. They kept themselves alive in the semifinal race with a 21-run victory over Australia in a thrilling encounter. They then defeated Bangladesh in their last Super 8 match to reach the World Cup (T20s and ODIs) semis for the first time.

Afghanistan will face South Africa in the first semifinal match at the Brian Lara Stadium in Trinidad on Wednesday, June 26 (local time). Notably, the Aiden Markram-led South Africa team remained unbeaten in the group stage and Super 8 stage in the marquee T20 tournament in the West Indies and the USA.

Also read: Taliban gets involved in T20 World Cup 2024 after Afghanistan's win; passes this message to Rashid Khan