The Journey Of The Afghanistan Cricket Team!

Afghan refugees first got hooked to cricket in camps in Pakistan. Now, they are a Testplaying nation. The ACB and ICC don’t want a repeat of the Bangladesh story. So, the real test awaits

- Neeru Bhatia

The month of Ramadan was particularly bloody for Afghanistan. The string of truck bombs and suicide bombers did not discriminate among civilians, soldiers and policemen. A relatively quiet Eid ul-Fitr came as a blessing.

Actually, Eid celebrations started a few days earlier, on June 22, thanks to the International Cricket Council granting full membership and Test status to Afghanistan. Cricket-loving Afghans cut cakes and took to the streets in jubilation. Afghanistan Cricket Board Chairman Atif Mashal and CEO Shafiq Stanikzai returned from the ICC Full Council in London to a red carpet welcome in Kabul. Afghanistan president Ashraf Ghani met Mashal and Stanikzai, and conveyed his pleasure. Stanikzai summed it up best: “It was a perfect Eid gift.”

Afghan all-rounder Mohammad Nabi’s tweet conveyed players’ sentiments: “Finally our hard work pays off and the dream of ICC full membership comes true. Can’t control my sentiments.”

Of course, it is a milestone for Afghanistan and Ireland, to be welcomed by the clannish international cricketing fraternity. But Afghanistan’s rise was far from simple. From getting hooked to cricket in refugee camps in Pakistan to becoming a Test-playing nation, Afghans did it in two decades flat. The national side trained in the United Arab Emirates, and, now in Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh.

The architects of this rise are both in the ACB, and in the field—from Nowroz Mangal, the first Afghan skipper in 2007, to Noor Ali, who scored centuries in both innings of their first class debut at the Intercontinental Cup in 2009, to the current sensation, all-rounder Rashid Khan.