“Ye aaj subah hi gira hai (This has come down in the morning),” Mirwais Ashraf pointed to an American helicopter, a Sikorsky, lying on the ground where Afghanistan’s cricketers used to practice,” Rashid Latif , the former Pakistan captain. and the wicketkeeper recalls to The Indian Express.
Latif was appointed as the first head coach of Afghanistan cricket in 2010. Mirwais Ashraf is now the chairman of the country’s cricket board and according to Latif, he is working tirelessly to develop cricket infrastructure in the country.
“Mirways made his debut under me. We are still in touch, he is driven to popularize cricket in Afghanistan. The first generation I coached grew up in a refugee camp in Peshawar after the Russian invasion. Today’s lot are the casualties of the Taliban war. The passion and team spirit was always there. It was the same a decade ago,” recalls Latif.
The Afghanistan team has already beaten three World Cup winners – England, Pakistan and Sri Lanka so far. It is a combination of domestic cricketers who have been involved in a fledgling but committed domestic cricket, T20 stars playing in franchise leagues around the world and a smart coaching staff that has planned just for this World Cup that has brought them to yet another miraculous victory . from a semi-final position. Cricket in Afghanistan has come a long way since that morning when a helicopter crashed into one of its grounds, casting unrelenting shadows of war.
Investment in infrastructure
Mohammad Khan Zadran, who was instrumental in the rise of Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Ibrahim Zadran and Mujeeb ur Rahman, says the development of domestic infrastructure has helped this group to grow.
“There are almost 5,000 clubs from 34 provinces. There are 110 teams in Khost alone. Club cricket runs from June to September-October. Selection is then made for Class II, which takes place from January to February. Then Grade 1 in March and April, it’s first-class cricket. The 50 over and the T20 league are held in June and July. Class 3 is all about school cricket,” says Zadran, who runs an academy in Khost.
The first-class structure was set up in 2015-16 and over the years, the Afghanistan cricket board started spending money on the infrastructure.
“Right now, ACB gives us about 16 million (Afghan currency) for domestic cricket in a season. There are many tournaments and hence we have almost 16-17 courts for the sport domestically.
Afghanistan captain Hashmatullah Shahidi says growing up in domestic cricket, constantly playing against top teams, has helped the team grow in stature.
“We have five pitches. One in Khost, two in Jalalabad, one in Kandhar and one in Kabul. A new high performance center has been built in Kabul. Those who do not have T20 league contracts, we make sure they play in domestic cricket,” says Hashmatullah.
Coaching expertise
It is Afghanistan’s batting, especially their top four, that has impressed everyone with their approach, and Latif credits it to his old friend Ajay Jadeja.
“What you see is the impact of Ajay Jadeja on this team. That was exactly how Jadeja was batting. Keep rotating the strike, hit the odd boundary and take the game into the deep,” says Latif.
“The day Jadeja got the offer, he called me and asked me what to expect. I told him that he will learn more from them than teaching them about cricket. After the win against England, he texted me ‘you were right’,” laughs Latif.
Jadeja, ahead of Afghanistan’s match against the Netherlands in Lucknow, says: “I’m just a tour guide. What can I teach them in a few weeks?’
Be it the opening stand of 114 runs between Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran against England, their partnership of 130 runs in the chase against Pakistan or the unbeaten 111 runs against Sri Lanka, between Hashmatullah Shahidi and Azmatullah Omarzai has shown the development of cricket in Afghanistan.
Former Afghanistan coach Lalchad Rajput says how pleasing it is to see them rotate the strike now, because initially they only believed in putting the ball into the crowds.
“It used to be so frustrating. They used to only believe in hitting sixes. I had put a dressing on them so many times. They used to struggle to hit the balls into the gaps. Now they are more mature and playing sensible cricket. No coach can change to teach these things overnight,” says Rajput.
Rajput sees the Khadoos cricket infiltrating the Afghans. “Attitude and passion had nothing to do with it. If you tell them they have to run for 30 minutes, they will run for an hour. Playing cricket is the only thing that gives them happiness. They have seen bombs falling from the sky. They were not safe even if they were playing cricket, Rahmat (Shah) would tell me sir we don’t know when a bomb will hit the 22 yards. It gives me immense happiness to see my boys playing ‘Khadoos cricket’ and not dropping their net,” says Rajput, under whose tenure Afghanistan was granted Test status.
Afghanistan assistant coach Raees Ahmadzai says they always live in fear. “I have seen players come to training after they have buried their loved ones. We’ve never had it easy,” he says.
“When I went to England as captain in 2006, we played seven games, winning six of them against different county teams. When we returned, there was no one to greet us. We didn’t have pocket money to get a taxi from the airport home. A few boys just walked. But there was always a belief in ourselves that we can achieve something,” says Raees.
Passionate fans
Raees points towards Ekana Stadium and says “If our country has a stadium like this (Ekana Stadium), it will be full and there will be no empty seats. The capacity here is 50,000. If we had this stadium in Afghanistan, you would see 50,000 people outside the stadium.
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“Just to watch our national camp ahead of the Asia Cup, fans came a day early from different parts of the country. They slept outside the stadium one night just to get a glimpse of their stars,” he says.
Ahmadzai says cricket brings smiles to the faces of his countrymen.
“We don’t want war, man. We want peace. We want a good relationship with everyone. We want sports, we want education, we want good health facilities. There are many other things apart from cricket which is the need of the hour. This team plays for those back home, whose hope has not been buried by bombs, drones or bullets,” he says.