Hamid Hassan could have had a wicket in the third over of their first World Cup match, if Afghanistan had been quicker to adapt to DRS © Getty Images
Afghan shopkeepers in Kabul watch a broadcast of a Cricket World Cup match.
Photo:
shah marai/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
Afghans Find Passion in the Cricket World Cup
For Afghanistan, the Cricket World Cup is a big stage, one that inspires hope among a war-weary people
Wednesday is a proud day for Afghanistan
as the country makes its first appearance in the Cricket World Cup.The
rise of Afghan cricket is astonishing. Two decades ago, the sport was
virtually unknown to Afghans. But in the midst of war, a love of cricket
somehow developed. A governing body was formed. Now, 11 Afghan men will
don the blue national team jersey and step out on the Manuka Oval in
Canberra in front of a capacity crowd and an Afghan television audience
of millions.“It is exciting, the start of the World Cup.
Everyone is waiting back home, the whole nation is waiting for the
match,” Afghanistan’s captain Mohammad Nabi said.Like some of
his teammates, Nabi learned to play cricket in a refugee camp near
Peshawar, Pakistan, where his family fled during Afghanistan’s war with
the Soviet Union. He is now ranked as the world’s eighth best
all-rounder, meaning he bats and bowls. He has scored more than 1,000
runs for his country.Some of those runs came in an October 2013 qualifying match against Kenya, when Nabi top-scored, helping Afghanistan book a place in
this World Cup. Afghanistan has featured in international cricket
tournaments before, including the World Twenty20, but the World Cup is
the sport’s marquee event.Ahead of the Cricket World Cup in
Australia and New Zealand, The WSJ’s Will Davies puts on some pads and
tries to explain how the old English sport is played.
For Afghanistan, the Cricket World Cup is a big stage, one that inspires hope among a war-weary people. In Kabul, young men gather to play cricket on muddy grounds covered with garbage, longing for something to look up to.
“I am so proud that Afghanistan will be playing in the World Cup for the first time,” said Abdul Manan, a 15-year-old who aspires to be a professional cricketer. “I won’t miss a second of the game. Afghanistan will be playing alongside the world’s strongest cricket nations.”
Afghanistan's Afsar Khan Zazai plays a shot in front of India's Mahendra Singh Dhoni during a World Cup warm-up cricket match.
Photo:
Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
Cricket has become the most popular sport in Afghanistan.
Nisar, a worker at a sports shop in Kabul who goes by only one name,
said sales of Afghanistan cricket team shirts have rocketed in recent
weeks. He is now selling 30 to 40 a day.The Afghanistan Cricket
Board even has a department dedicated to women’s cricket, though
progress there is slower. “The ACB…is striving to ensure that young
women and girls are able to enjoy and participate in the game. This
development, however, must necessarily take place in the context of a
traditional culture and history,” the board says, adding that the
women’s game must display “great sensitivity, discretion and diplomacy.Afghanistan
on Wednesday faces Bangladesh, a so-called full member of the
International Cricket Council. That means it also plays test cricket—the
five-day version of the game—placing it among the elite cricket
nations. Until 2000, Bangladesh was an associate member, as Afghanistan
is today.Bangladesh made its World Cup debut in 1999 and has
caused upsets over giants such as Pakistan, England, India, South Africa
and the West Indies. Bangladesh is ranked ninth in the one-day
international cricket rankings. Afghanistan is 12th, but is capable of
beating Bangladesh, as it did in the Asia Cup last March, the only
previous meeting between the two.“They (Afghanistan) are a good
team, it should be a really good match,” said former player Sunil
Gavaskar, one of India’s greatest batsmen and a member of the team that
won the 1983 World Cup. “It is great for cricket they are involved,” he
told The Wall Street Journal.Other teams in Afghanistan’s group include 2011 finalist Sri
Lanka, England and co-hosts New Zealand and Australia. Afghanistan plays
Australia on the rapid surface of the WACA in Perth, where fast bowlers
such as Mitchell Johnson will likely give Afghanistan players the test
of their cricketing lives.
In their first game in the Cricket World Cup, the Afghan cricketers showed their passion for the game.
“The players are very excited. They feel a real genuine honor to be here and they want to do well for the public back home,” Afghanistan’s coach, Andy Moles, said Tuesday.
“Bangladesh is a full member side. We respect them, but we’re certainly not scared of them,” the Englishman added.
Canberra couldn’t be further removed from Kabul and the camp near Peshawar where Nabi learned to play cricket. The match on Wednesday is the first of three that the quiet, clean Australian capital will host during the World Cup. The Manuka Oval is a picturesque ground with grass banks for spectators, in addition to the stands.
The scene will surely please Taj Malik, Afghanistan’s former coach and the man credited for much of the nation’s rise in cricket. Malik’s role with Afghanistan is dramatized in the 2010 documentary “Out of the Ashes,” which follows the country’s attempt to qualify for the 2011 World Cup in the Subcontinent.
In an opening scene in a bus traveling through the hectic streets of Kabul, Malik turns to the camera and says: “There is a lot of problems in the world today. Everywhere there is conflict, fighting and injustices happening. The solution of all the problems is…cricket.”
—Margherita Stancati in Kabul contributed to this article.