KABUL: Azizullah Fazli was announced as the new chairman of the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) on Wednesday by Mohammad Ashrafi Ghani, the President of Afghanistan who is also the board’s patron-in-chief. Fazli was previously the vice-chairman and adviser of the board.
He succeeds Atif Mashal for the top job, who called it quits after 18 months at the helm of the country’s cricketing administration despite his original contract lasting till January 2022. ESPN reports that the national government has assigned him another diplomatic mission which will commence shortly.
The CEO of ACB, Shafiqullah Stanikzai was full of praise for Mashal’s achievements which have grown the country’s stature in cricket on and off the field.
“During Mr. Mashal’s tenure, ACB’s constitution, National Selection Policy and several Departmental Policies were approved. Afghanistan became a Full Member of ICC and ACB also achieved Test Status, List- A and First-Class status for domestic cricket.” Stanikzai said.
Mashal congratulated Fazli on the appointment and believed that his successor will carry forward the work done under his tenure. According to him, Fazli needs the support of the board in contributing significantly to the Afghanistan Premier League, the T20 competition which will have its inaugural season this year in the UAE. He termed it a ‘national project’ which resembles the TAPI, one of the major regional natural resources projects involving Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India. He received a memento from ACB officials in recognition of his contributions.
Fazli thanked Mashal, Stanikzai and Ghani for trusting him with the responsibility of running cricket in the country. He pledged to re-evaluate ACB’s current structure, bring changes in the board’s selection committee, strengthen the domestic cricket structure in the country and standardizing all infrastructure and construction projects to complete them in time.
