Kabul:  Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) is in financial trouble because funding from the International Cricket Council (ICC) have not been able to reach the board after July 2021, according to local media reports. Since the Taliban reclaimed control of the government in August 2021, international sanctions have made it more difficult to get funds into the country.

Local media says that the ACB will only be able to pay 30% of the salaries of its employees and other staff working in Afghanistan. This is true even though all outstanding payments to players and coaches at all levels have been made. Based on expected ICC revenues of $2.7 billion, the ICC's model for distributing funds said that the ACB would get about $40 million during the commercial rights cycle of 2016–23. But that has been changed to about $4.8 million a year because the ICC's projected income has gone down. The last time the ICC sent $2.5 to the ACB was in July of the year before.

Twice a year, in January and July, full members get money from the ICC. Since no foreign team comes to play bilateral series in Afghanistan and the ACB's T20 event, the Shpageeza, is not shown outside of Afghanistan, the ICC is unfortunately the main source of funding for the ACB.

Afghanistan will play warm-up games against Pakistan and Bangladesh before starting their T20 World Cup 2022 campaign on October 22 against England in Perth.

Published in The Daily National Courier, October, 14 2022

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