COLOMBO: Not many years ago India used to be ‘home’ for the Afghanistan cricket team. They used to practice and play matches in Dehradun and Greater Noida before Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow was made their new home. Things changed after the new Taliban government came to power again two years ago. This means the Afghanistan team that wanted to start preparing for the ODI World Cup in India early will not be able to do so due to visa issues.
After being knocked out of the Asia Cup after losing against Sri Lanka, a select Afghanistan players including their support staff wanted to have a pre-tournament camp in India. “If not the full team, the plan was to start training for at least six to seven players early. The Afghanistan Cricket Board held talks in this regard but it is learnt that this cannot be done due to visa issues,” a source in the know of things told this daily. As many as five Afghan players including their star spinner Rashid Khan and wicketkeeper-batter Rahmanullah Gurbaz played for various franchises at the 2023 Indian Premier League. The source, however, claimed that they got visas specifically for the tournament.
India used to be the adopted home for the Afghanistan cricket team at least until the COVID-19 pandemic. After the Taliban government came to power, the situation and the diplomatic relations have changed considerably. “As India was their adopted home, they had Indian visas but I was told that those visas were cancelled once the Taliban government came to power. Now, they get visas on a tournament basis. The process is on and the team will get visas depending on their schedule in the ODI World Cup,” added the source.
Afghanistan played two warm-up matches — one each versus South Africa and Sri Lanka in Thiruvananthapuram and Guwahati on September 29 and October 3 respectively. They will open their World Cup campaign against Bangladesh on October 7 in Dharamsala. The team is now expected to be in India closer to warm-up ties.
