DO NOT PUBLISH | ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, 2024

There are some stories that you want to keep close to your heart—not because they are personal, but because they touched something deeper within you by redefining the limits of improvement and passion. 

Afghanistan cricket is precisely that story. 

However, on June 24, when they defeated Bangladesh and reached the semifinal stage of the T20 World Cup, a new chapter was added to that already epic saga. The unadulterated joy that this brought Afghanistan players and the nation at large is a function of the incessant growth and improvements in Afghanistan cricket. 

It’s easy to forget that Afghanistan played their first T20 World Cup in 2010 and that it was also in the Caribbean! 

Only six years into playing international cricket at that stage, Afghanistan had already built a reputation of having good slow bowlers and batters who could grind it out. But in a 12-team tournament, they were slotted along with India and South Africa in the group stages, and they were subdued easily by the two full-member sides. Remember, Afghanistan was an Affiliate member then, not even an associate member. Exactly 11 years ago, on June 26, 2013, Afghanistan became an Associate member of the International Cricket Council (ICC). Full membership and Test status came way later in 2017. 

In the 14 years since they played their first T20 World Cup, only once were they able to beat a top 10 side in 15 World Cup games prior to the 2024 edition. However, in the 2024 edition, they have already defeated three Test nations—Australia, Bangladesh, and New Zealand—on their way to the first-ever World Cup semifinal in their cricketing history.

Teams don’t grow this fast in World Cricket. That’s even more true for Associate nations. In fact, there are Test nations like Bangladesh who have failed to improve as a team in all formats despite getting Test status 17 years before Afghanistan. 

But here were Afghanistan, a nation torn by war, with a huge chunk of its population living as refugees in other nations in South Asia and around the world, and still rising in the cricket world with steps so assured that one was left gasping in disbelief. 

The reason behind it lies in this recent generation of Afghanistan cricketers who have started making their mark in the last five years or so. These young men — the Rahmanullah Gurbazs, the Naveen-ul-Haqs, and the Fazalhaq Farooqis, among others — have seen the earlier generation of Nawroz Mangals, Hamid Hasans and Mohammad Nabis pushing big teams in the past but failing to win. 

However, these men are no ordinary cricketers. Forged in the fire of early struggles in a conflict-ridden country, their cricket is as passionate as their expressions on the field. They carry this inherent confidence in themselves, wearing their Afghan identity on their sleeves and not shying away from being intense. 

After all, all these youngsters mentioned above are globe trotters, playing in leagues worldwide along with many of their teammates. They have seen the Nabis and the Rashid Khans do it on that stage before them. They have seen how Adelaide or Hyderabad pours out its support for their Rashid miyan. They have seen how Nabi is never alone for a Sehri in Ramzan while playing the Indian Premier League (IPL). They have seen how much love and respect they can earn in world cricket if they perform like the way Rashid and Nabi perform in T20 leagues worldwide. 

Hence, Naveen is confident about taking on Virat Kohli in a verbal volley during the IPL. That’s why Gurbaz can throw a lot of words at Marcus Stoinis after the Aussie gave him a send-off. This doggedness of taking the fight to the opposition and being in the face with all the intensity they can muster has allowed them to come on top in two of their three Super Eight games in this World Cup. 

Against Australia, they showed signs of being a well-oiled professional unit by doing the absolute basics of the game right. When Gurbaz and Zadran couldn’t get a lot of boundaries in their opening partnership, they ran 10 twos and 26 singles, along with 10 fours and four sixes. That allowed them to hang 118 runs in 95 deliveries on the scoreboard, ensuring that Afghanistan had a defendable total on a slow pitch. 

While Australia missed so many catches that it became hard to count, Afghanistan hardly put a step wrong on the field. The not-so-agile members of the team, like Noor Ahmed and Gulbadin Naib, were also throwing themselves around in the field, diving forward and sideways and taking catches just centimetres above the ground. 

This was a team who desire to win was so staunch, that against Bangladesh, the same Gulbadin was ready to fake a hamstring injury just because rain had come and Afghanistan were ahead in the DLS scores. Another cricketer from a more affluent cricketing nation would have probably tied his shoelaces, you know. But not Gulbadin, who probably isn’t experienced in time-wasting antics. Coach Jonathan Trott asked his team to slow the game down, and that’s what he did, by hook or by crook. 

As a sports fan, that’s what you want right? You want to see a fight. You want to see drama in that fight. And if there’s a dope backstory that would give you the feels with capital F, take my money, give me my nails, and I’ll chew them down in the sheer thrill of the moment. 

Afghanistan as a cricket team have been absolute Cinema, and that also a melodramatic Bollywood flick written by Salim-Javed from the 70s and the 80s. 

That’s why there were 13 million Indians awake when the Afghans were rallying around in the Windies. That’s why everyone watching that game felt so happy when the Amitabh Bachchan of Afghanistan cricket, Rashid Khan, just fell on the ground in emotion after winning the game. That’s why we all choked up when we saw an injured Gurbaz silently crying on the sidelines after his team had confirmed a spot amongst the best four teams in a cricket World Cup. That’s why, right before the semifinals, both the leading run-scorer (Gurbaz) and the leading wicket-taker (Farooqi) of the tournament were Afghans. 

The core memory of this gigantic Afghanistan achievement is full of joy. However, it also carries a tinge of sadness as no woman is visible in the many celebration pictures coming from Afghanistan. 

As the men celebrate the victory of the men’s cricket team in the streets and forget their lived reality for a moment, the other half of the population might not even be aware of the other Afghanistan team that the Taliban doesn’t allow to play cricket because of their gender. 

However, for now, as that core memory lodges itself into the brain of every cricket fan, Afghan or otherwise, it’s hard to miss the fact that this generation of Afghan male cricketers is redefining the sport and its legacy in Afghanistan in real-time. Their passion for the game and their zeal to do something good for their suffering countrymen are what have allowed them to bring their best to the cricket field. 

There will be more work that needs to be done for a more holistic future of Afghan cricket. However, for now, all that one can and should say is to fly high, Afghanistan. Fly so high that when a 12-year-old in Afghanistan has a choice between a bat and a gun, he chooses to hit sixes and enrich lives, not press the trigger and take lives.