Jos Buttler hopes England’s Champions Trophy game vs Afghanistan goes ahead despite boycott calls

Jos Buttler thinks England’s Champions Trophy fixture against Afghanistan next month should go ahead as planned despite calls for a boycott amid the Taliban regime’s assault on women’s rights.

A cross-party group of more than 160 MPs, including Jeremy Corbyn and Nigel Farage, signed a letter imploring the England and Wales Cricket Board to refuse to play the match in Lahore on February 26.

ECB chief executive Richard Gould subsequently wrote to the International Cricket Council condemning the “gender apartheid” in Afghanistan, where female participation in sport has been effectively outlawed since the Taliban returned to power in 2021.

However, Gould rejected the idea of the ECB making a unilateral decision to withdraw from their second group game of the eight-team Champions Trophy, calling for collective action from the ICC.

After chatting with England director of men’s cricket Rob Key about the hot-button issue, Buttler is similarly minded about the contest against Afghanistan taking place.

“Political situations like this, as a player you’re trying to be as informed as you can be,” England’s white-ball captain said ahead of his side’s first T20 against India in Kolkata on Wednesday.

“The experts know a lot more about it, so I’ve been trying to stay in dialogue with Rob Key and the guys above to see how they see it. I don’t think a boycott is the way to go about it.

“The players haven’t really worried too much about it. These things, you’re trying to educate yourself and read up on these things.

“There’s been some good stuff written about it that I’ve tapped into and I’ve spoken to quite a few people to try to gather expert opinion. I’m led by those experts on situations like this.

“But certainly as a player, you don’t want political situations to affect sport. We hope to go to the Champions Trophy and play that game and have a really good tournament.”