Two decades have gone by, things are back to square one in Afghanistan. Torn by political strife and a devastating earthquake, the country is on its knees.At a time like that, their victory against ODI world champions England at the Ferozeshah Kotla on Sunday may not change the lives of all those who don’t know what’s there in store tomorrow, but it will surely leave them with a sense of hope.
“It’s not just cricket that the guys are playing for. They are knowledgeable of the things and the hardship that some people are going through…if this can give a smile to people’s faces and encourage boys and girls to pick up a cricket bat or a cricket ball and get playing cricket wherever they are in Afghanistan, then that’s the sort of the goal that’s been achieved,” coach Jonathan Trott’s words explained what this win truly meant for the country.
While the Afghans have found a moment to savour and cherish, the victory was a lift for the World Cup as well, that was falling into the trap of monotonous one-sided games. As the world took note of the tale of flair, grit and determination of the Afghan boys, five-time champions Australia must have been one of the teams that
was truly cheering them on.
Looking down the barrel after two back-to-back losses, they must have been lifted by this win that has thrown open the top-four race.
It’s not that this Afghan lot has never threatened an upset in an ODI World Cup. In the 2019 edition, they ran the mighty India close and it needed a Mohammed Shami hat-trick to notch up an 11-run win.
In the last four years, they have regularly ran teams like Pakistan close in various tournaments, but this is truly something else. And it was all the more special because in the first couple of games, Afghanistan didn’t do much to suggest that anything like this was in store.
A defeat to Bangladesh and a thrashing against India didn’t give them much hope, till Sunday happened. If we delve deeper, we will realize that Afghanistan have slowly been preparing themselves for this.
Rahmanullah Gurbaz, who smoked the ball for 80 before getting run-out, is not exactly unknown quantity for the Indian cricket fans. The 21-year-old, who plays for
Kolkata Knight Riders, had threatened on occasions in the IPL and one could see that there is talent in store. And that brings us to the most crucial factor that has made this Afghan team a competitive unit.
The Afghan players — led by the likes of Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman and Mohammad Nabi — have been a regular feature in franchise leagues across the world. They know the ins and outs of most of the players they are up against while Rashid is a master of Indian conditions.
Every franchise captain wants him in his team because of his ability to make fantastic use of the slow Indian turners and he proved that once again on Sunday with 3-37. And under his mentorship, Mujeeb ran away with the ‘Man of the Match’ award, coming up with his bag of tricks against an England batting line-up that felt suffocated by the runs on the board.
Now that Afghanistan have pulled this off, the eyeballs will be on them, especially in the game against New Zealand on Wednesday on the spin-friendly Chepauk pitch. It’s on Rashid & Co. to keep it going and make it more than a flash in the pan for the ‘Kite Runners’ who have chosen to chase the wind.
(AI image)
