Gulbadin Naib threatens to expose 'mafia circle' in Afghanistan cricket

Gulbadin Naib

Kabul: Former Afghanistan skipper Gulbadin Naib, who led the team in the 2019 World Cup, has alleged that corruption is rampant in the team and has threatened that he would expose the 'mafia circle' involved in Afghanistan cricket which is responsible for 'betrayal of the nation and its people'.

"My dear Afghans, the main reason why I went public is not because I have personal grudge against player or the board. I am going to reveal every person's identity involved in corruption and other misconducts and betrayals against our nation cricket and its people," Naib tweeted on Thursday.

"I know most of you may ask why have I not spoken publicly against these people/mafia circle before. I have been sidelined and promised, by the authorities and other stakeholders that they will sort the mess in the cricket team and promised immediate changes & banning of this circle," he added.

Naib alleged that some players deliberately underperformed in the World Cup -- where Afghanistan lost all their nine matches and ended at the bottom -- because he was captain and that these players openly admitted to doing so to the country's cricket board.

"The same circle have access all the way to some high level gov officials, who have influence over the cricket board and management. Some blatantly admitted to the board that they were not performing as they were supposed to during the world cup because of my captaincy...," his tweet read.

"Has anything been done about such betrayal? For public interest, if the authorities don't take appropriate actions, I will publicly name & shame every single one from government officials to board members, players and ex-board and management members. Stay tuned... long life my beloved," he concluded.

Ahead of the 2019 World Cup, the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) had handed leadership roles to Rahmat Shah, Gulbadin Naib and Rashid Khan taking charge of the Test, ODI and T20I teams respectively, which had marked the end of Asghar Afghan's four-year stint as captain of the Afghanistan team across the three formats.

Earlier this week, Afghan was reinstated as captain across all formats.

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