Seventeen former Afghanistan women’s internationals, now scattered across Australia, Canada and the UK, spent the past fortnight in India – their first taste of a global event since leaving home in 2021.
Supported by the ICC and backed financially by Cricket Australia, the ECB and the BCCI, the group watched India play Sri Lanka in Guwahati on Tuesday, the opening fixture of the Women’s ODI World Cup, and trained at the BCCI Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru either side of the match.
“They’ve got a few players in Canada and the UK as well. They’ve been put through their paces,” former Australia batter Mel Jones told TV viewers while on commentary. A little later she added: “They’re smiling at the moment. That might have been a few ice baths that they had to enjoy over the last couple of days as well. Fitness testing, match simulations, matches, wonderful coaching from the coaching staff at the Centre of Excellence. The ICC, the ECB, BCCI, Cricket Australia have come together to host this tour.”
Key facts first
• Twelve-day ICC programme, largely funded by CA, ECB and BCCI
• Seventeen players attended; most are now based in Melbourne and Sydney
• Coaching sessions run by VVS Laxman’s staff in Bengaluru
• Tickets and transport provided for the World Cup opener in Guwahati
A handful of the squad missed out because Indian visas did not arrive in time, an unavoidable snag given their current refugee status. Those who travelled squeezed in extra practice matches – including one against local academy players – and informal meetings with India, New Zealand, England and Australia squads as they drifted through the Centre of Excellence for their own warm-ups.
Later in the week New Zealand captain Sophie Devine presented the visitors with a green-stone pendant, a small moment that carried more weight than anyone expected. “It’s gorgeous,” Jones noted on air. “A jade necklace, that represents courage and determination and that’s exactly what these women, these players, have shown after the last four years and going into the future as well.”
Why it matters
The Taliban’s return to power in August 2021 shut the Afghanistan women’s programme overnight. Twenty-five central contracts, announced only a year earlier, became worthless pieces of paper and the players themselves went into hiding before many escaped abroad. In Australia several now turn out for Premier clubs in Melbourne and Hobart; one has appeared in the state second-XI competition. They still cannot play under an Afghan flag because the Afghanistan Cricket Board has no official women’s team, yet the ICC’s new support package – finally confirmed in April – pays for training camps, kit and travel that individual players simply could not afford.
Analysis without the lecture
The ICC insists this is a “first step”, though nobody inside the governing body will put a date on possible qualification for a Women’s T20 World Cup. That feels sensible. A proper domestic structure is several years away and political realities in Kabul have not shifted. For now the priority is keeping a core group together, fit and motivated, while showcasing what is possible when cricket’s bigger boards pool resources.
The players’ verdict
No formal press conference was arranged, a reflection of lingering security fears, but two cricketers – speaking on background at the ground – called the week “lifesaving” and “the first time we have felt part of cricket again”. One admitted her parents still hide her kit whenever local officials visit their old neighbourhood in Kabul. That reality underlines why visa issues, delayed buses and lukewarm hotel lunches did little to dampen spirits.
Next steps
If logistics allow, another camp is pencilled in for early 2026, almost certainly back in Australia where the majority of the squad now live and work. Beyond that the ICC would like to stage annual gatherings around major tournaments, a low-cost way of maintaining momentum and, crucially, global visibility.
For the moment, the experience of jogging onto a pristine outfield in Bengaluru, shaking hands with the game’s current stars and then hearing 30,000 people in Guwahati cheer a women’s World Cup appears to have done its job. Progress remains fragile, yet undeniably real.
