The Taliban Cricket Club 1st ed. (1)

Rukshana is a spirited young journalist who works for the Kabul Daily in Afgahnistan. She takes care of her ill, widowed mother and her younger brother, Jahan. But then Rukshana is summoned to pear at the infamous Ministry for the Propogation of Viture and the Prevention of Vice, and their quiet and tenuous way of life is shattered.

There, the malevolent minister, Zorak Wahidi, announces the Taliban has found a new way to pursue the diplomatic respect it has long been denied: cricket. On the world stage of sport, the Taliban will prove it is a fair and just society. Rukshana and other journalists are to report that a tournament will be held to determine who will play for Afghanistan. Anyone can can put together a team. The winner will travel to Pakistan to train, then go on to represent Afghanistan around the world. Rukshana knows that this is a shameful and deeply surreal, idea. The Taliban will never embrace a game rooted in civility, fairness and equality, with no tolerance for violence or cheating. And no one in Afghanistan even knows how to play the game. Except for Rukshana.