IT'S MINNOW OR NEVER

USA's win over Pakistan in the T20 World Cup comes as the icing on a surge of smaller cricket playing nations. Now, how about a dose of Karl Marx?

- VISHAL MENON

For a brief moment in 1996, Kenya etched its name on the global cricketing map when it orchestrated the biggest upset in World Cup history, maybe even in cricket history, by toppling two-time champions West Indies by 73 runs in Pune.

It would be the first time West Indies would lose a one-day international (ODI) to an International Cricket Council (ICC) Associate team.

It was literally Miracle on 22 yards. “The West Indians, as if infected by their shame, hid behind the curtains of the dressing room after the loss," Michael Henderson wrote in the Times.

Cricket is awash with such instances of glorious upsets, of David slaying the Goliath. The ongoing ICC World T20 in the United States and the Caribbean islands has thrown up two more.

Last week, the USA cricket team, which most Americans did not know existed, did the unthinkable-they defeated Pakistan in a pool game in Dallas.

What made the result even more shocking was that the USA team included six players of Indian descent, who were in the country on H-1B visas.

Two days later, Afghanistan, world cricket's rising upstarts, enhanced their already rising glory by defeating a heavyduty New Zealand team.

Punching above weight

Afghanistan, with their effervescent bunch, have been punching above their weight at ICC events for some time now. During last year's 50-over World Cup in India, they finished in the creditable sixth place, securing a spot in the 2025 Champions Trophy.

Afghanistan's dream run included victories against former champions England, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.

With an emphasis on improving cricket at the grassroots level, the emergence of an eclectic mix of cricketers who play in franchise leagues across the globe, and backed by an arsenal of coaches-Afghanistan cricket has come a long way from the days of war and refugee camps.