Jos Buttler believes England’s Champions Trophy game against Afghanistan next month should go ahead as planned, despite calls for a boycott amid the Taliban regime’s crackdown on women’s rights.
A cross-party group of more than 160 MPs, including Jeremy Corbyn and Nigel Farage, signed a letter asking the England and Wales Cricket Board to pull out of the February 26 match in Lahore.
ECB chief executive Richard Gould then wrote to the International Cricket Council condemning “gender apartheid” in Afghanistan, where women’s participation in the sport is effectively banned after the Taliban return to power in 2021.
However, Gould rejected the idea of the ECB making a unilateral decision to pull out of their second group game of the eight-team Champions Trophy, calling for collective action from the ICC.
After speaking to England Men’s Cricket Director Rob Key, Buttler feels the same way about the upcoming contest against Afghanistan.
“Political situations like this, as a player you try to be as informed as possible,” England’s white-ball captain said ahead of his side’s first T20 against India in Kolkata on Wednesday.
Women have been effectively banned from the sport since the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan, but Butler said she was not in favor of a boycott.
“The experts know a lot more about it, so I’ve been trying to stay in dialogue with Rob Key and the guys at the top to see how they see it. I don’t think a boycott is the way to go about it.
“Footballers haven’t really worried about it. These things, you try to educate yourself and read about these things.
“There are good things written about it that I’ve used and I’ve talked to a lot of people trying to get expert opinion. I’m guided by experts in these situations.
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Watch England coach Brendon McCullum confirm Buttler will not continue to star in India
“But of course as a player you don’t want political situations to affect the sport. We hope to go to the Champions Cup and play that game and have a really good tournament.”
