•    HOME   
•    NEWS   
•    BUSINESS   
•    INTERNATIONAL   
•    TECH   
•    SPORTS   
•    LIFE & TIMES   
•    OPINION   
•    MY JAKARTA   
•    BLOGS   

Kabul. Afghanistan’s victorious cricket team returned home on Thursday to a rapturous welcome from hundreds of fans after securing a berth in the World Twenty20 qualifiers.

Hundreds of people, including lawmakers and sports fans waving the national flag and singing patriotic songs, gathered at Kabul’s airport to greet the returning heroes.

The national team is living a fairy tale for the war-ravaged country after winning the qualifying tournament for the World Twenty20 in Dubai.

Afghanistan had already secured a place in the April 30 to May 16 World Twenty20 tournament in the West Indies by beating host United Arab Emirates by four wickets, before signing off in style with a comfortable victory over Ireland in the final on Feb. 13.

“Our national cricket team returns home today and we have come to show them our appreciation for their achievement and to further encourage them,” said Hazrat Omar Zakhilwal, finance minister and Afghan Cricket Board chairman.

Afghanistan will play India and South Africa in Group C of the World Twenty20, which is its first major tournament.

“Certainly it was a dream of all the players and the Afghan people, and God fulfilled it,” team captain Nowrooz Mangal told reporters of their winning streak in Dubai.

The team has drawn two of the toughest opponents, however, in India and South Africa. The first match against India is set for May 1. Ireland, meanwhile, will face the West Indies and England in Group D.

Teenage wicketkeeper Mohammad Shahzad said Afghanistan was going to the World Cup to do more than just meet their heroes — they want to beat them.

“We have great respect for them, so obviously we will be very keen to prove ourselves against those two teams,” the big-hitting 18-year-old told Abu Dhabi’s National newspaper. “It’s cricket and anything can happen, especially in T20. We have seen Ireland knock Pakistan out of the 2007 World Cup and we have beaten Ireland so many times.

“So it all comes down to how you play — reputations don’t matter on the field. We have a very good team for T20 and our confidence is high. We are not going to the West Indies to socialize; we want to make our nation proud.”

Shahzad, who hit an unbeaten 214 as Afghanistan made 494 to beat Canada in a first-class match in Sharjah earlier this month, said a personal highlight would be playing against India’s Mahendra Singh Dhoni in the opening match in St. Lucia on May 1.

“Dhoni is my favorite player and I am really looking forward to playing against him,” he said of his fellow wicketkeeper.

“I don’t like Dhoni just because he is a great cricketer, I like him because he is a wonderful human being.

“I have not had an opportunity to meet him until now, but this is one thing I have always dreamed about. Now I will be getting this opportunity in the West Indies.”

Shahzad and his teammates were feted by flag-waving crowds upon their arrival back in Kabul.

“Every time we return home, we are given a grand welcome,” Shahzad told the paper.

“We have seen 25,000 to 30,000 people come to receive us at the airport. So their love and prayers have a great motivating effect on the team.

“It is the reason why we want to keep winning — to bring joy to their lives and, God willing, we will do more of that in the West Indies.”

Cricket is a relatively new sport to Afghanistan, which has been mired in conflict and civil war for about 30 years.

Most players learned the sport while living in neighboring Pakistan, where millions of Afghans fled as refugees to escape the violence of the war against the Soviet invaders, which was followed by civil war between a multitude of factions.

In 1996, the Islamist Taliban took over the country before being overthrown in a US-led invasion in late 2001, after which they regrouped to wage an insurgency now into a ninth year against Western troops and the Afghan government.

Under the Taliban, sports stadiums across the country became execution and torture grounds where people would be summarily shot, beheaded, lashed or have body parts amputated as punishment for a range of crimes.

Sometimes rough justice was meted out at halftime or following football matches.

Since the Taliban’s overthrow, however, Afghans have reclaimed their love for sports, winning hundreds of medals in international competitions, according to sports authorities.

At this month’s South Asian Games in Bangladesh, Afghans won 32 medals, including eight golds in karate, taekwondo, wrestling, boxing and basketball, said Ghulam Jailani Ghurub, of Afghanistan’s National Olympic Committee.



AFP, Reuters