Taliban replaces Azizullah Fazli with Mirwais Ashraf as acting ACB chief

Azizullah Fazli's tenure as the ACB chief has come to an end. Meanwhile, Mirwais Ashraf has been appointed as the acting ACB chief by the Taliban government.

Team Newsable

Kabul, First Published Nov 11, 2021, 4:12 PM IST | Last Updated Nov 11, 2021, 4:15 PM IST

In a significant development regarding cricket in Afghanistan, former Afghan all-rounder Mirwais Ashraf has been appointed as the acting chief of the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) by the Taliban-led government. He is replacing Azizullah Fazli, as the latter had been at the helm for the past couple of months.

As per multiple reports, the Afghan cricket players had held a meeting with the Taliban officials during the continuing ICC T20 World Cup in Abu Dhabi. The decision was seemingly taken after the players presented their demands. Ashraf's appointment has revived hopes of taking the sport to the next level in the country.

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Afghan cricket has been under severe scrutiny ever since the Taliban government took control of the political handlings of the country. Also, since the Taliban has banned women sports in the country, ACB is staring at a ban from ICC since the ICC law mandates women's cricket for any of its members.

Ashraf has represented Afghanistan in One-Day Internationals (ODIs) and Twenty20 Internationals (T20Is) between 2009-15. Being a pacer, he had claimed 46 wickets in the same number of ODIs at an economy of 4.06, while in the shortest format, he claimed 14 from 25 at 6.79.

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Following his appointment, his primary target would be to hold talks with Cricket Australia (CA). CA has indefinitely postponed a Test against the side that was scheduled to be held in Brisbane later this month, keeping in mind the uncertain political situation in the country. At the same time, it had also abided by the ICC law of having both men's and women's cricket in a country.

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