The war-torn nation celebrated with gusto. Amid all the heartbreak and carnage, a cricket match earlier this month injected the country with a desperately needed tonic.
This was a moment to savor and cherish for Afghanistan after their beloved national cricket team comprehensively defeated Ireland by seven wickets to claim a historic first ever Test victory.
In just their second ever Test – cricket’s longest format played over five days and exclusive to just 12 countries – Afghanistan underlined their emergence as a potential cricket powerhouse in the latest chapter of one of the most remarkable stories in all of sports.
With the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) only formed in 1995, cricket is now firmly the country’s most popular sport and something of a national obsession. It’s been an incredible rise for the national team who have become a powerful unifying force for the 37 million populace.
“The Afghanistan cricket team has become a symbol of hope,” recently departed former ACB chief executive Shafiq Stanikzai tells me.
“The team is helping re-brand the image of Afghanistan, which has a negative image globally. We are a loving and caring people, and we can showcase our personality on the world stage through our cricket team.”
Afghanistan overwhelmed Ireland in a clear indication of their mesmerizing talent. Through cricket’s rather antiquated hierarchical system, Ireland and Afghanistan became the newest Test playing nations after receiving Full Membership status in 2017.
Afghanistan played mighty India in their Test debut last year and are set to tour Australia late next year. They won’t, however, be part of cricket’s new World Test Championship starting mid-year comprising the top nine ranked countries in the world and, instead, will mainly be playing Ireland and lowly Zimbabwe in the near future.
But it feels like a matter of time before Afghanistan power up the Test rankings. Each player has had quite the remarkable journey and it’s this unwavering spirit that forms the team’s backbone.
The team was initially built from players returning home from refugee camps in Pakistan, the neighboring country renowned for producing outrageously gifted cricketers.
Samiullah Shenwari, a veteran all-rounder, moved with his family over the border for safety during the final stages of the war between the Soviet Union and the Mujahideen that devastated Afghanistan.
It was at a refugee camp in Peshawar where Shenwari played with a taped tennis ball and he did not use a hard cricket ball until aged 15. At 18, he moved back to Afghanistan in 2005 and has since become a mainstay for the limited-overs teams.
“I missed my country but it was dangerous to return to Afghanistan,” Shenwari tells me. “It was incredible to finally be back home. Afghanistan is a country that is continually changing and people have moved back.”
Things are progressing well for Afghanistan, who will play in their second consecutive 50-over World Cup mid-year. This is noteworthy considering there are only 10 teams in the World Cup due to the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) controversial decision to cull participants for the sport’s showpiece event.
Afghanistan received automatic qualification for next year’s T20 World Cup in Australia as one of the ICC’s top-eight ranked teams. The successful launch of the Afghanistan Premier League (APL) – the country’s franchise T20 competition – last year was another indication of the growing professionalism and an important platform to harness the burgeoning talent coming through the ranks.
Of course, there are still major challenges in a country where the Taliban continues to wage a bloody campaign. The security issues obviously mean that Afghanistan don’t play matches at home and are instead based in Northern India, while the APL is held in the UAE.
Even though they are heroes for a nation, violence is not immune for the Afghanistan team. Star player Mohammad Nabi’s father was kidnapped in 2013, while Shapoor Zadran was attacked by gunmen in 2017.
Last year, four explosions at a cricket match in Jalalabad killed eight people and injured 43.
Andy Moles, the Englishman who coaches the national team, only leaves his hotel room for the cricket ground, which is “heavily fortified with guards and soldiers”.
“The (local) youngsters, they’re aware of the dangers, but they’ve grown up with it so they’re used to it,” he told cricket.com.au. “It’s become second nature to them.”
Internal politicking, a familiar bane across many cricket nations, looms ominously over Afghanistan cricket and magnified recently by the departure of Stanikzai who says he found out of his demise through the media.
It was a bitter ending, but Stanikzai leaves contented after a successful stint of more than four years in charge. “The day I took over in 2014, I knew we had the potential to be a top cricket team,” he says. “We just needed a road map and we created that.
“We had a 10-year target of being a Full Member but achieved that in three years. We invested a lot into domestic cricket. It’s been a proud journey.”
Stanikzai, who is considering a move into politics, forecasts a bold showing for Afghanistan at this year’s World Cup in the U.K.
“I think Afghanistan can make the semi-final,” he says. “Our strategy is for a World Cup triumph within the next decade.”
With such precocious talent fused with inherent characteristics shaped by overcoming adversity, Afghanistan looms as cricket’s most intriguing team – an important development for a sport that feels too restrictive at its top level.
No matter what happens on field, the Afghanistan cricketers have achieved something far greater than mere wins and losses much to the gratitude of their compatriots.
“The players are cherished and loved in Afghanistan,” Stanikzai says. “The team is something all of Afghanistan can really be proud of.”
