NEUTRAL VENUE, PASSIONATE RIVALRY

A guest post by Shadi Khan Saif and Mustafa Qamari

Image via Afghanistan Cricket Board Facebook

Since the fall of Kabul, my life has been enriched by friendships with two colleagues from Afghanistan, now in Australia: Shadi Khan Saif and Mustafa Qamari. Shadi’s family has since joined him in Australia; Mustafa’s, alas, languish in Teheran, as Australian politicians and bureaucrats twiddle their thumbs. While catching up recently, I asked them to preview their countrymen’s precious one-off Test against New Zealand starting Monday at Greater Noida, especially in light of Australia’s misconceived and futile policy towards bilateral cricket with Afghanistan. Please make Shadi and Mustafa welcome to Cricket Et Al; they are well and truly welcome in this country.

-GH

Every soul at the Afghan cricket’s headquarters in Kabul felt that much-needed sense of assurance and belonging from the global cricketing community on that murky summer day in June 2017 when the nation was honoured with Test status.

The city was still reeling from its worst terrorist attack claiming close to 200 lives. I was one of dozens of journalists and photographers, some in casual evening clothes but many in armored vests. We had gathered at that tiny cricket ground surrounded by Kabul’s majestic mountains to witness the International Cricket Council granting Full Membership to this emerging cricketing nation. 

Microphones and cameras were hurriedly set to catch updates from ICC Board’s Annual General Meeting going on in London on 22 June via a shaky internet line. It was streamed live on the then bustling private TV and radio stations all over Afghanistan to create an extraordinarily festive environment amid deaths and destruction that people had become so used to. 

Just like me, I felt all the journalists, cricket officials as well as a number of junior cricketers present at the ground in Kabul almost forgot at that lovely moment what had happened just a couple of miles away from this cricket ground. A massive suicide truck bombing on May 31 at the German embassy had shaken the entire diplomatic enclave, shattering windows at the Afghanistan Cricket Board’s headquarters on its fringes. Deaths and destruction were the headline news the journalists were covering; the public was consuming in that relentless cycle of violence. In the middle of all this, cricket rise's Afghanistan was an oasis of calm, a beacon of hope. 

A whole lot has changed since with the Afghan ‘Atalans’ cruising through the shorter formats of the game as a team and world class individual players like Rashid Khan and Mohammad Nabi becoming household names wherever cricket is known and played. It is a fascinating tale for the game but much more dear and personal for the millions of war-weary Afghans who have embraced cricket with unmatched passion. 

With not a single cricket ground just a couple of decades back anywhere in the country, Afghans now play it with zeal throughout the year without any break everywhere. Be it the northern valleys under snowcap mountains or the dry and humid plains in the south - a bat and ball brings youths together for a few hours of peace and joy.

Fast-forward five years later, I found myself among thousands of Afghans gathered at the majestic Melbourne Cricket Ground for the T20 World Cup game - boy, what a feeling that was for us on the ground and those watching it on the television in Afghanistan. The crucial game against the Kiwis was washed away by a rainy Melbournian weather. But now both teams are set for an historic test match starting on 9 September. As a longstanding supporter of cricket in Afghanistan, India has come forward to provide venue for this amazing opportunity to nurture the game in the landlocked Afghanistan, which is facing crippling international isolation under the Taliban's harsh rule. This will be only the 10th Test match Afghanistan has played since earning that well-deserved test status seven years ago - just about one Test match a year for a team that has brought a new life and flair to the game. 

It could - it should - have been more. Australia’s decision to deny Afghanistan the amazing opportunity of a one-off test two years ago still haunts those wanting the longer format of the game to flourish and Afghanistan to grow beyond its hallmark style of T20 format. 

When the announcement was made of the fixture in Greater Noida, I was sitting next to the Afghan cricket’s most senior cricket commentator Ibrahim Momand who has seen the rise of the team from a refugee camp in Pakistan to the centre stage on the global level. ‘I still can’t understand why they (the Australian team) punish cricket for the political issues,’ he told me, while praising the Kiwis move to play against Afghanistan. 

Cricket Australia had canceled the game due to Afghanistan’s failure to establish and nurture a functioning female cricket team. Momand argued that scrapping by Australia hurt millions of cricket lovers in Afghanistan. “Did you see the passion with which Afghanistan played against Australia in the T20 World cup in June - how beautiful that game was between the two?” He mentioned Afghanistan’s phenomenal beating of the Aussies in the Caribbean.

Afghanistan’s signature spinner Rashid Khan is resting on doctor’s advice, but the team is filled with many more promising stars like Ibrahim Zadran, Azmatullah Omarzai, Baheer Shah Mahboob and others to express their raw talent and learn a skill or two from their more seasoned Kiwi rivals for the betterment of the game in general. The preliminary Afghan squad is made of:

Hashmatullah Shahidi (c), Ibrahim Zadran, Riaz Hassan, Abdul Malik, Rahmat Shah, Baheer Shah Mahboob, Ikram Alikhel (wk), Shahidullah Kamal, Gulbadin Naib, Afsar Zazai (wk), Azmatullah Omarzai, Ziaurrahman Akbar, Shamsurrahman, Qais Ahmad, Zahir Khan, Nijat Masoud, Farid Ahmad Malik, Naveed Zadran, Khalil Ahmad, Yama Arab.

The Black Caps squad is close to full strength: Tim Southee (C), Tom Blundell (WK), Michael Bracewell, Devon Conway, Matt Henry, Tom Latham (VC), Daryl Mitchell, Will O'Rourke, Ajaz Patel, Glenn Phillips, Rachin Ravindra, Mitchell Santner, Ben Sears, Kane Williamson, Will Young.

Seeing the Kiwis receive a red carpet welcome in India with showering rose petals for this long-awaited game of test cricket with Afghanistan reminded me once again of those spontaneous celebrations in Kabul reeling from years of bloodshed.