The situation in their country can get volatile at any time. Their domestic cricket structure is still at a developing stage. But on the international stage, Team Afghanistan refuse to buckle down.
The Hashmatullah Shahidi-led unit has overpowered as many as three previous world champions — England, Pakistan and Sri Lanka — in the ongoing World Cup.
How well the Afghans finish their Cup campaign is an entirely different matter, but for a war-ravaged nation that gained Test status just six years ago, what this team achieved so far is indeed creditworthy. Their success will inspire those kids inAfghanistan who dream of a career in cricket.
Their players — some of whom (including Rashid Khan and a few other seniors) live in Dubai for ease of travel to the different franchise leagues — have dedicated all these three victories to the people of Afghanistan, who were affected by a series of devastating earthquakes in the western part of the country recently. But alongside bringing some smiles back on the faces of those suffering, the Afghans also had a statement to make.
“We wanted to hit back at all those experts and commentators who labelled us as ‘mere participants’ in this World Cup. Afghanistan aren’t here just to participate. Hope the message now is loud and clear enough to all those people,” Afghanistan assistant coach Raees Ahmadzai told The Telegraph before the squad’s departure for Lucknow from Pune on Tuesday.
“Such views and comments from those experts made the players even more determined. They were confident in the first place because of their knowledge of these Indian conditions, thanks to their IPL experience.
“Yes, we didn’t bowl well against India, dropped catches and batted badly against New Zealand which was a game where we were quite confident of winning. But that spurred us on to make things fall into place,” Ahmadzai, who represented Afghanistan in five ODIs and eight T20Is, said.
“The Afghanistan cricket team is painting the true picture of the nation — 5th in points, 2.1 crore viewers! Their talent and cricket craze is going global. With the present peace and global support, we’ll shine brighter,”Afghanistan CEO Naseeb Khan wrote on X.
Matter of belief
A spirited show in the Asia Cup last month and in the ODIs against Pakistan before that instilled a kind of belief in the Afghans to do something special in this showpiece event.
“I remember saying before the World Cup, we just got to win a few close games and get that belief... They believe in themselves as players and also in their methods as individuals as well as a team.
“It’s really tough, but it’s something we’ve got to look after,” head coach Jonathan Trott said following Afghanistan’s seven-wicket win over Sri Lanka on Monday.
Camaraderie
Forget groupism, the likes of Rashid, Mohammad Nabi and other senior pros in the Afghanistan side ensure their juniors feel more than comfortable in the team set-up and dressing room.
“Rashid, Nabi and the likes deal with juniors as if they’re the ones senior to them. Such is the camaraderie in our group, making ita lot more unified,” Ahmadzai emphasised.
Beating the Netherlands in Lucknow on Friday is the Afghans’ next target. “Thinking about a semi-final berth can wait as it’s still too early. We’re taking one game after another, so what we aimnext is a win over the Dutch,” Ahmadzai said.
