Kandahar was never so happy!
A special kind of celebration ensued in Afghanistan after Afghanistan defeated Scotland during their World Cup debut this year.
Thousands of jubilant Afghani cricket fans paraded the streets of the city with mad dancing and waving flags of their country. There was some unregulated AK-47 firing (their traditional way of celebrating emphatic success) too, but we guess that is okay, this was a historic win for the country that has been long down-trodden by poverty and terrorism.
Afghanistan Cricket Team
Match Overview
- Afghanistan, made their World Cup debut this year and surpassing all odds against the Scots managed to win with a wicket left while chasing down a simple target of 211.
- Why was this win ever so special? The “Blue Tigers” as they are popularly known, had been already shamed to 97-7, but a 96-run heroic effort by SamiullahShenwari took them towards victory.
- The Man-of-the-match award was given to SamiullahShenwari for hitting a 96 0ff 147 balls. JavedAhmadi gave in 51 runs in 51 balls before being caught by M Machan. ShapoorZadran and DawlatZadran spearheaded the bowling attack with 4 and 3 wickets respectively.
- Many players from the Afghan side have learned cricket in a refugee camp based in Pakistan. This win was special to them, even more special than other teams competing in the World Cup since none of the other competitors go through such trouble of playing in the World Cup, let alone taking part in practice sessions owing to the fact that their country is currently the hub of violence and poverty.
While the team was losing the match for most part of the game, Afghanis were on the verge of breaking apart. Many TV sets were broken, slurs hurled but, the win erased all misery.
Afghanistan’s President Ashraf Ghani issued a personal statement to the Afghan cricket team and extended his vote of congratulations for their success and urged them to keep going like this.
Afghan Cricket Board’s Chairman, Nasimullah Danish also hailed the team’s efforts for keeping themselves calm under pressure and playing like champions.
Afghanistan is on a roll.
Team Afghan
They are set to take on Australia in their next match, which may be a one-sided game but we wouldn’t want these boys to lose heart. They should play their hearts out! They have registered their highest team total against the UAE at 302/5 in 2014 so we know that they are capable of touching the 300 mark. All that is left is to not lose their nerves.
