Uncertainty, distress for Afghan cricketers after Taliban takeover

KABUL: The crack of bat on ball echoes around Kabul's international stadium as Afghanistan's top cricketers prepare for their next tour - just days after the country fell to the Taliban.

The calm of the empty stadium is a surreal contrast to scenes just a few kilometres north, where tens of thousands of Afghans at Kabul airport are desperately trying to flee on evacuation flights.

Following the stunning victory of the hardline Islamists, many of the players in cricket-mad Afghanistan's beloved national team are finding it difficult to focus on sport.

"The fear is there in their eyes, in their voices, even in their messages," pace bowler Naveen-ul-Haq said of his teammates in Kabul during a BBC radio interview broadcast at the weekend.

"The Taliban have said (they) won't be troubling any sportsman, but nobody knows," added Haq, speaking from the West Indies where he plays in the Caribbean Premier League.

The return of the Taliban has sparked widespread fear in Afghanistan and in the international community, reviving memories of their brutal first stint in power from 1996 to 2001 when they imposed a harsh version of Islamic law.

They banned most forms of entertainment - including many sports - and stadiums doubled as public execution venues.

Sports the Taliban did allow were strictly controlled, and were for only for men to play and watch.

They did not mind cricket, however, and the game born centuries ago on the playing fields of England is popular among Taliban fighters too.

That has done little to ease the fears of many players, for whom the fall of the country is about a lot more than the sport.

"I appeal to the leaders of the world; please don't let Afghanistan go into chaos," former national captain Mohammad Nabi tweeted days