Big boost to Afghanistan as national side receives green signal from Taliban to play one-off Test versus Australia

It isn't an unknown fact that Afghanistan is going through a lot ever since the Taliban outfit took over from the government. While the whole country is facing a huge unrest, there is some good news for the Afghanistan national men's cricket team as they've got the approval from Taliban group to play a one-off Test versus Australia, in Hobart, later this year.

There was huge concern regarding the future of cricket in Afghanistan post Taliban's entry. However, the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) remained confident of the cricketing activities going ahead as earlier under the Taliban outfit and they have now received green signal to carry on with the Australia tour. 

Hence, the forthcoming Test will be the first that Afghanistan will play since the Taliban's recent takeover. In this regard, the Cricket Australia (CA) has also claimed that the match was "well underway". "There is goodwill between CA and the Afghanistan Cricket Board to make the match happen, which immediately follows the ICC T20 World Cup in the UAE in which the Afghanistan team is due to play. CA will continue to work with the Australian and Tasmanian governments ahead of the Afghanistan team’s arrival planned for later this year," the spokesperson said.

Despite the Taliban outfit stating that they love cricket and won't interfere with the cricketing activities of the senior men's team, the fate of the more modest women's cricket programs remain a mystery as of now.

Talking about the one-off Test between Afghanistan and Australia, it will be held in Hobart from November 27. 

This also puts an end the uncertainty which was surrounding Afghanistan in terms of their participation in the upcoming ICC Men's T20 World Cup, to be held from October 19 in the UAE.