Afghanistan women's players to attend World Cup opener

When India take on Sri Lanka at the Women's World Cup 2025 opener, the spotlight will not just be on the players on the field but also on some of those off it.

A group of Afghanistan's women's cricketers, currently living in exile in Australia, will be in attendance at the Assam Cricket Association (ACA) Stadium in Guwahati in one of the first attempts to integrate them into the global game. The players do not represent Afghanistan as they are not recognised by the ACB but are playing in league structures in Australia. They will have no formal role at the game, where they will be received as spectators.

"[BCCI secretary] Devajit Saikia knows exactly what details about this," ACA President Taranga Gogoi told ESPNcricinfo. "He will guide us and we are awaiting more details. The Afghanistan players will be here tomorrow and we will make arrangements for that."

Details surrounding the Afghanistan players' trip to the World Cup have been kept under wraps, with no official announcement from the ICC. However, in April this year, the ICC confirmed it would form a "dedicated task force" to support Afghanistan's female cricketers which would include coaching and mentorship. Funding for this initiative would be provided by the ICC, and the three most moneyed cricket boards: the BCCI, ECB and CA but exact amounts were never revealed.

The idea for Afghanistan's exiled female cricketers to travel to the World Cup was firmed up at the ICC's annual conference in July. At the time, a loose plan was put in place for the cricketers to attend a training camp in Bengaluru, which was due to host the opening match of the tournament, play against Indian domestic sides and then attend a handful of World Cup games. As things stand, the players are still due to compete in some fixtures but may not attend any matches other than the tournament opener, although no information has been confirmed.

It is also understood that the lack of publicity around the Afghanistan women's arrival in India is a result of the ICC adopting a cautious approach to any retaliation from the government of Afghanistan. Since the Taliban takeover in 2021, women have been increasingly excluded from public life, cannot attend university or secondary school and their voices cannot be heard in public. As such, the ACB is unable to ratify a women's team, despite contracting 25 players in 2020.

The majority of those players live in Australia but some are resident in the United Kingdom and Canada. Not all those living in Australia have made the trip to India as some faced visa challenges but most of them played in an exhibition match between an Afghanistan XI and Cricket without Borders in January.