Afghanistan Is Here and Ready to Stay

In recent years, Afghanistan has come to have some pretty grim and depressing connotations; a country torn apart by war, corruption, drugs, and religious extremists. A country that, according to the UN, is one of the ten “most failed states” in the world. There has been precious little for Afghans to smile about for many years, but just last week, they got some small joy from an unlikely source: the sport of cricket.

Cricket was nearly unheard of just a decade ago in Afghanistan, where soccer and buzkazhi (think polo played with a dead lamb instead of a ball) were the most popular sports. Then Afghanistan began to receive an influx of young Afghanis whose parents had fled during the Soviet invasion to Pakistan, where they had been introduced to that country’s national passion, cricket. Soon, odd, flat bats began popping up, and the sport took off. In 2006, the sports ministry declared it the country’s national sport, as their national team began to gain notice.

For Americans, the word cricket may bring up stereotypical images of a long, dull sport played in white clothes by genteel, tea-drinking, cucumber sandwich-eating Englishmen. Nowadays, however, the sport is far different. It is considered to be the world’s second most popular sport, trailing only soccer, and it’s premier event, the Cricket World Cup, is the third most watched sporting event in the world, beaten in viewership only by the FIFA World Cup and the Summer Olympics.

While Test matches (the ones that last for five days) are still played, a new format called Twenty20 has taken the cricketing world by storm. Taking “only” three hours to complete one match, T20 was trialed in the English domestic league in the 2003 season, in an attempt to woo younger fans, which the sport was losing to EPL soccer, as well as sports like rugby and basketball.

The radical new format proved to be wildly popular with fans in England, and it quickly spread throughout the rest of the cricket-playing world. In 2008, the Indian Premier League was formed, with eight teams from the world’s most cricket-mad country competing in a Premier League-like competition.

It quickly proved to be lucrative; last year, television rights to the competition were sold for $1 billion, and cricket, for so long staid and traditional, began to draw in flashy sponsors. India’s richest man, Asia’s largest cement company, Rupert Murdoch’s son, and Nokia and Samsung are just some of the various team owners, with a major English soccer club apparently interested in buying an expansion team. Twenty20 also took off in the international arena, with the third international Twenty20 championship schedule for April in the Caribbean.

Two spots were left open in the twelve-team field, to be filled by the two teams who would come out triumphant in the Twenty20 Qualifying Tournament, held in the UAE from February 9-13. The Afghans were placed in a tough group, which included Ireland and Scotland (both of whom qualified for the last Twenty20 championship), as well as the USA.

In their opening match against the Irish, Afghanistan had to settle for the low score of 139 runs in their innings. Ireland looked to be well on their way to reaching that target, before clutch bowling performances from Karim Sadiq and Mohammad Nabi saw them win a thriller.

Once again, Afghanistan’s batting was poor against Scotland, with Noor Ali providing stability with his 42. Shapoor Zadran stepped up with the ball in hand, restricting Scotland well as Afghanistan won again. Zadran was good the next day against the Americans, with Hamid Hassan also joining in as the bowlers compensated for bad batting in an easy win over the US.

In the round-robin style semifinals, Afghanistan were completely outclassed against the Netherlands, excitement catching up to them as they fell to their first defeat. In a do-or-die game against the host UAE, their bowlers got the chance to go out first, and didn’t disappoint, keeping the Arabs to only 100 runs.

Ali kept a cool head, and the Afghans beat the UAE in a tight game to make it to the World T20 championship. In a meaningless final against Ireland (both teams had already secured qualification), Afghanistan won comprehensively, allowing them to take the trophy back home to their country.

After such euphoria, reality might hit hard. They will be placed in a group in the championship with powerhouses India and South Africa, both of whom will be expected to thrash them, but Afghanistan have already gone farther than they could have ever expected. Over the next few months, they will get to meet with the president and prepare for their chance to shine on a global stage…and maybe, just maybe, put some joy and pride into the heart of their ravaged nation.