The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) Naseemullah Danish has said that his team would be very happy to play a bilateral series in Pakistan. Danish also said that there are no security concerns in Pakistan and the atmosphere in the neighbouring country is ideal for cricket.
No international cricket team has visited Pakistan since the attack on the Sri Lankan team in Lahore back in March 2009 and the green shirts have been playing their home matches away from Pakistan on neutral venues like United Arab Emirates and England.
Danish also thanked the Chairman of Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Ijaz Butt for his support and said that Afghanistan is ready to send its cricket team to Pakistan so that it also clears the concerns of the other countries.
The CEO said, “We are thankful to the PCB chairman for his continuous support and ready to send our team to Pakistan to break the ice. Security is not an issue and by playing in Pakistan we want to send out a positive message to the world.”
Afghan cricket team is currently coached by the former Pakistan captain Rashid Latif who replaced another former Test cricketer Kabir Khan. Danish praised the services of Latif as the coach of the national team and said that former Pakistan captain has made a huge difference to the standard of cricket in the Afghanistan team.
Danish went on to say that apart from playing a series in Pakistan, Afghanistan also wants PCB to give them technical support and send more coaches across the border so that they can teach the youngsters.
“Besides playing a bilateral series we are looking forward to receiving technical support from the PCB as well,” Danish added.
Afghanistan cricket team is improving quite rapidly in international cricket and it has become one of the better associate teams of the International Cricket Council. Afghan team won the recent ICC Intercontinental Cup and also got Silver Medal in the Asian Games last year. Majority of the Afghan cricketers play their club cricket in Peshawar and Karachi and their experience is quite evident at the international level.
