England and slated to take on Afghanistan in the upcoming Champions Trophy edition on February 26. But amidst the backdrop of the Taliban’s gross violation of women’s rights, the fixture has been caught in the eye of the storm.
The grim situation for nearly 14 million Afghan women in the Taliban-ruled country has not gone unnoticed by the UK politicians. As many as 160 politicians in the UK collectively reached out to Richard Gould, the ECB chief executive via a letter urging the English team to recognize the crimes against women and forfeit their fixture with Afghanistan.
Gould turned down the plea by stating that such a measure can’t be enforced unilaterally and would require a coordinated response from other full member countries.
So how does Jos Buttler respond to the calls of a boycott?
Speaking ahead of England’s first T20I clash with India at the Eden Gardens, English captain Jos Buttler stresses that a boycott can’t be seen as a viable situation. He further adds that he remains confident that the fixture will go as planned but insists that he will be in touch with the experts above him who can constantly brief him on every stage of this sensitive issue.
"Political situations like this, as a player you're trying to be as informed as you can be. The experts know a lot more about it, so I've been trying to stay in dialogue with Rob Key [ECB men's managing director] and the guys above to see how they see it. I don't think a boycott is the way to go about it."
The political tussle with Zimbabwe in the 2003 World Cup
Boycotting a major ICC fixture is not an unfamiliar territory for the English side. During the 2003 World Cup which was jointly hosted by South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Kenya, the then-England skipper Nasser Hussain was urged by the politicians to forfeit fixtures with Zimbabwe in a bid to protest Rober Mugabe’s anti-racial policies.
The decision was left to the players which led to a points forfeiture ultimately hampering their qualification for the tournament’s latter stages. However, Buttler remains confident that this time around, there will be no individual pressure on the players. The English skipper is not in favor of mixing politics with sports and looks forward to giving his best shot in the upcoming Champions Trophy edition.
“I'm led by those experts on situations like this, but as a player, you don't want political situations to affect sport. We hope to go to the Champions Trophy and play that game and have a really good tournament."
