The Australian cricketer Marnus Labuschagne has said that he has no issues playing against Afghanistan despite Cricket Australia imposing a ban on playing a bilateral series against Afghans.
Earlier CA decided to cancel a T20I series against Afghanistan due to deteriorating human rights against women in the country.
Since then both sides faced off in the T20 World Cup 2024 and are now set to clash in the Champions Trophy 2025.
Speaking at the pre-match conference, Marnus Labuschagne said, “I think most of our preparation sort of came before the tournament. Obviously, we’ve had a training rain out and then the game rain out against South Africa and our training now is indoors.”
“So, the boys have played a lot. We’re ready to go. I think, obviously when you come to these tournaments, you have to be prepared to play. We’ve had obviously a game off and our preparation has been altered, but we’ll be ready to go tomorrow.
While asked about playing against Afghanistan, Marnus Labuschagne said, “Yeah, interesting question. Obviously, it’s an ICC tournament.”
“And our game, as the schedule came out, we’re playing Afghanistan. Personally, for me, which I can speak of, I’ve got no issues about playing tomorrow.”
“But obviously there has been some stances from us at Cricket Australia in the past. But, we’re just focusing on tomorrow where we are playing Afghanistan,” said Labuschagne.
Afghanistan has made big news in international cricket defeating Australia in T20 World Cup last year. They went on to beat England in the ongoing Champions Trophy games and Labuschagne believes that Afghanistan team has emerged into a world class side.
“Look, I’m not a pundit or someone that deems if they’re underdog or not. We’re playing Afghanistan and we know how good they are and we know the skill level that they play with, but we’re going to make sure we come really well-prepared and put a really good performance together,” said Labuschagne.
Australia will face Afghanistan in their final group stage matches and the winning team will advance to the semi finals. The match will be played on February 28 at Gaddafi Stadium.
