Jos Buttler believes England's Champions Trophy match 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, have signed a letter pleading with the England and Wales Cricket Board to refuse to play the match in Lahore on February 26.
ECB chief executive Richard Gould later wrote to the International Cricket Council condemning “gender apartheid” in Afghanistan, where women's participation in the sport has been effectively banned since the Taliban returned to power in 2021.
However, Gould rejected the idea of the ECB taking a unilateral decision to pull out of their second group game for the eight-team Champions Trophy, calling for collective action by the ICC.
After speaking to England's director of men's cricket Rob Key about the hot-button issue, Buttler had similar thoughts about the contest against Afghanistan.
“In political situations like this, as a player you try to be as informed as you can,” the England white-ball captain said ahead of his team's first T20 against India in Kolkata on Wednesday.
Women's participation in the sport has been effectively banned since the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan, but Buttler said he was not in favor of a boycott
“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 do it.
“The players didn't really worry too much about it. These things, you try to educate yourself and read about these things.
“There's been some good stuff written about it that I've tapped into and I've talked to quite a few people to try and gather expert opinion. I am guided by these experts in these situations.
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Watch as England head coach Brendon McCullum confirms that Buttler will not stay for the series in India
“But certainly as a player, you don't want political situations to affect the sport. We hope to go to the Champions Trophy and play that game and have a really good tournament.”