CHENNAI: Firooza Amiri remembers January 30, 2025 vividly. Among the 19 women cricketers who left Afghanistan after the Taliban took over in 2021, Amiri was watching her teammates take the field at the Junction Oval, Melbourne in Australia. It was an exhibition match between Afghanistan Women's XI and Cricket Without Borders XI organised by Cricket Australia. Their fight id far from over though as they seek International Cricket Council attention.
"It was lots of emotions and feeling proud as well, because it's been one of the matches that we've been always dreaming of," Amiri recalls. "We saw so many people from Afghanistan who had come down to watch us. We were not allowed to have the flag, but we saw all of them with flags. I think that was the true win for us, because we made history for the first time. We step on to the ground as an Afghanistan women's team," she adds.
Amiri, like the 18 other cricketers and their families, had risked their lives to leave the Taliban-ruled country. They had burnt their scorecards, bats, equipment the moment the Taliban took over in August 2021. For the safety of their family, the moment they heard there was a chance to leave Afghanistan and move to Australia, they took it. In the months that followed they travelled multiple cities under disguise, shifting hotels every few days before flying to Australia from Pakistan via Dubai. With the help of former Australia cricketer Mel Jones, a few others and Cricket Australia, they joined cricket clubs, started coaching part-time while continuing to fight for their right to play cricket.
Now they are fighting a new war. To find their cricketing identity. In the past three years, Afghanistan women have written multiple times to the ICC, who continue to have Afghanistan as a full member without having a women's team. "The hardest part of the journey is we left everything behind that we were hoping for, okay, there is an ICC behind us. I'm not expecting anything from the Afghanistan Cricket Board as they are under the Taliban. We are expecting that ICC will support us and raise their voice for equality. The simple things that ICC can do, like IOC, they can make a refugee team," Amiri remains hopeful.