England captain Jos Buttler says that boycotting the Afghan team during the Champions Trophy match is no solution to the problem and we will play a match against them during the mega event.
Earlier this month, more than 160 British politicians demanded that the England Cricket Board (ECB) boycott the match against the Afghanistan cricket team in the ICC Champions Trophy scheduled for Pakistan next month.
The Women’s team has been banned from participating in sports since the Taliban returned to power after the US withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, against which the Afghanistan Cricket Board is also facing pressure from the International Cricket Council.
England’s men’s team is scheduled to play Afghanistan in Lahore on February 26.
However, in this regard, yesterday, England team captain Jos Buttler said that in such political situations, there is a way out, but I do not think that boycotting the match against the Afghan team is a solution to the problem.
He said that the same situation arose with England during the 2003 Cricket World Cup, when former captain Nasser Hussain’s team boycotted its match against Zimbabwe under the leadership of Robert Mugabe, after which we had to face pressure from all over the world.
Jos Buttler said that experts and politicians have a problem with how they see this, but as players, we do not want to boycott the match and spoil the cricket atmosphere through politics.
It should be noted that before the Champions Trophy, Jos Buttler’s team will play a series of five T20 and 3 ODI matches against India. England will start its campaign in the Champions Trophy 2025 with a match against Australia.
