PESHAWAR: 16 members of the Afghanistan’s squad for the T20 Blind Cricket World Cup 2024 in Pakistan, reached here via Torkham Border on Tuesday.
Afghanistan, who are making their debut in the tournament, will be led by Abaseen Selab, with Fahim serving as his deputy.
The squad further features wicketkeeper batter Sharafat, Farmanullah, Samiullah, Abdullah, Asadullah, Ghulam Khan, Baryalai Sahil, Sardar Wali, Abdul Malik, Ajmal, Rohullah, Dawran, Ezatullah and Zabihullah.
Upon their arrival, the side will rest today before playing a practice match against a local club here.
The squad was accompanied by the coaching staff, comprised of coach Sanaullah Khan Marwat, physiotherapist Dr. Shafiq and trainer Syed Jalal.
Notably, two Afghan players are still awaiting visa approvals and are yet to join their team.
Meanwhile, South Africa’s blind cricket team will arrive on Wednesday, while other participating teams will reach on Thursday.
Earlier today, India’s blind cricket team has withdrawn from the upcoming T20 World Cup as the side was denied the permission to cross the border by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).
General Secretary of the Cricket Association for the Blind in India (BCCI) Shailendra Yadav confirmed the development to an Indian news outlet.
Yadav shared that after receiving the No-Objection Certificate (NOC) from the Sports Ministry, the association was awaiting the government’s approval.
However, as per the latest development, the MEA has denied granting permission to the blind team to participate in the upcoming T20 World Cup 2024 in Pakistan.
“We were waiting for the last 25 days to get permission from the government to go to Pakistan. Now we can’t wait any longer as the tournament is about to begin,” said Yadav.
“When I talked with the Ministry of External affairs (MEA) on the phone then they told us that we won't be getting any permission to go to Pakistan and we can cancel your tournament.
“They also told us that we will be getting an official letter of denial as well. However, we haven’t got any official letter yet but on the basis of our conversation with MEA we’ve decided not to go to Pakistan and we will not participate in the Blind T20 World Cup.”
Atique ur Rehman Atique ur Rehman is a senior reporter for Geo News.
