In a decade, Afghanistan has gone from the lowest tier of cricket to qualifying for two World Cups and three World T20s. With its test debut, Afghanistan finally makes it into the elite club.
New Delhi: Afghanistan, a country ravaged by decades of war and terrorism, will be making its Test debut against India this Thursday. It is set to become the 12th Test playing nation, culminating a 23-year journey into cricket’s elite club that began in 1995, when the Afghanistan Cricket Federation was set up.
A hostile home
For a country sharply divided along ethnic lines, the cricket team has been a unifier. And the team has lived up to the adulation, taking giant strides in the game since 2008, when it was admitted into Division 5 of the World Cricket League — the lowest in the cricket hierarchy.
In a remarkable rise, Afghanistan has since then, played in a World Cup, and qualified for the showpiece event next year. The team has also qualified for three World T20s.
In a sense, the war at home has, ironically, contributed to the rise of Afghan cricket. Forced out of homes, several of the players such as captain Asghar Stanikzai, Mohammad Nabi, and Mohammad Shahzad, honed their skills at refugees camps across the border in Peshawar, Pakistan.
With the situation yet to stabilise in the region, it may be a while before the Afghanistan cricket board can host an international cricket match in its own country.
The Indian support
India has played its part in the Afghanistan cricket story. In 2015, the BCCI offered the Shaheed Vijay Singh Pathik Sports Complex in Greater Noida as a temporary “home-ground” to the team.
Afghanistan even “hosted” a three day T20 series against Bangladesh at Dehradun.
“All teams touring India will play one cricket match against Afghanistan for which arrangements have been made,” BCCI acting secretary Amitabh Choudhary had said last month.
Former players Lalchand Rajput and Manoj Prabhakar have coached the Afghanistan team, the latter as bowling coach.
In an attempt to further strengthen the relations between the two countries, BCCI has invited Afghanistan president Ashraf Ghani to watch the team play its first test match. Clearly, cricket diplomacy seems to be on the fast-track between the countries. Ghani had even supported India’s role in nurturing Afghanistan players. After the successful performance of Rashid Khan in IPL, he tweeted-
Afghans take absolute pride in our hero, Rashid Khan. I am also thankful to our Indian friends for giving our players a platform to show their skills. Rashid reminds us whats best about Afg. He remains an asset to the cricketing world. No we are not giving him away. @narendramodi
— Ashraf Ghani (@ashrafghani) May 25, 2018
Historic moment
Though Afghanistan is making its test debut, the team has proved its mettle in other formats of the game, particularly the T20 version. Afghanistan defeated West Indies in 2019 World Cup qualifiers; they had also beaten the team in the 2016 T20 World cup. The team blanked Bangladesh 3-0 in a T20 series last month.
Though the test format will call for a different skillset, the Afghanis have 19-year-old Rashid Khan who currently sits at the top of the T20 International rankings.
Khan comes into the test on the back of a sensational IPL, where he was the second highest wicket taker with 21 wickets at an impressive economy rate of 6.73.
Captain Asghar Stanikzai has even claimed that his team’s spinners are better than those with India.
“It’s a great moment for us as we embark on our Test journey. To be competing against the best on the Test rankings table is something to be proud of,” said Stanikzai.
Indian Test captain Ajinkya Rahane remarked that it is a historic moment for them and “an opportunity for us to be part of the occasion”.
The one-off Test will begin at Bengaluru’s Chinnaswamy Stadium Thursday, June 14. No matter which team wins the game, it is certainly a victory for the cricket fraternity, especially for Afghanistan.