TO fully comprehend Afghanistan’s journey to the global international stage is to know its very origin.
It was only 20 years ago that somewhere close to the border in the North West Frontier, a notice was pinned on a bus stop: “All those who want to play cricket for the Afghanistan team, please meet here in three months’ time.”
While the whole truth may have been lost in the romanticism of it all, the growth of the Afghanistan men’s team over the past two decades, which culminated in a first appearance in a major ICC tournament semi-final just a couple of months ago in Tarouba, Trinidad and Tobago, is a truly remarkable story.
Admittedly, the complexities around the women’s game, and its stagnation to the point of elimination under Taliban rule in Afghanistan remains a point of conjecture, but the men’s team continues to be a source of inspiration and beacon of hope for so many back home.
Rashid Khan, who is back playing his first ODI since last year’s World Cup in India, is an icon of excellence and an illustration of what can be achieved through cricket. There’s little doubt that the likes of teenage spinner AM Ghazanfar hero-worships Rashid and fellow trailblazers such as Mohammed Nabi.
Unlike many previous associate nations that have joined cricket’s elite at the main table, Afghanistan have never adopted a timid approach. They play with a huge degree of passion – true to the Pashtun culture – and are fiercely aggressive with both bat and ball.
They have also never lacked confidence in their ability to topple any of the so-called big guns.
“I think if you speak to the teams that we’ve beaten, they wouldn’t see us as giant killers, they see us as equals or a team that’s up-and-coming. I think giant killers are a little bit unfair,” Afghanistan’s South African-born coach Jonathan Trott said ahead of the first bilateral ODI series against the Proteas in Sharjah today.
“So giant killers perhaps suggest that we’re not going into any games as favourites. I think that’s a bit untrue. We’ve been playing well enough to earn the right to be favourites in some games or level-pegged. So if South Africa underestimates us, that’s okay. I’m quite excited.”
The Proteas have never played Afghanistan outside of a major ICC tournament before today. But their last two meetings – both at the ICC ODI World Cup and that fateful T20 World Cup semi-final in Trinidad and Tobago – has provided them with sufficient intelligence to know the Afghans are no pushovers, with stand-in captain Aiden Markram agreeing with Trott that this series will be no walkover for the visitors.
“They have just made a World Cup semi-final. Of course we’re going to take them seriously. They have world-class players in their team and conditions that will suit them,” said Markram, who is deputising for the ill Temba Bavuma.
“By no means are we expecting to rock up here and beat them 3-0. I don’t think cricket works like that at all. It is a big opportunity for us as a younger team. It is an exciting challenge to take on.”
Equally, Markram feels that the Proteas’ historic eight-wicket T20 World Cup semi-final victory over the Afghans at the Brian Lara Academy Stadium counts for nothing here in the desert sands of the United Arab Emirates.
“While the countries might be the same, I think if you look at the make-up of the teams, it’s quite different to the World Cup. The format is also different,” Markram said.
“Fifty-over cricket, you have to work really hard to get a positive result. It will be by no means against a very good team in their own conditions.”
Trott, meanwhile, feels that despite being knocked out by the Proteas, his charges will take plenty of confidence from their performances in both recent major ICC tournaments where they finished fourth and sixth, respectively.
“I think the World Cup is always good. It’s on the world stage and everybody’s watching. It gives the players a lot of confidence individually, but also as a side, to perform under pressure,” Trott said.
“But again, this is what these bilateral series are about. Now we are trying to beat South Africa over the three games. When you get that one-off opportunity in a World Cup or a Champions Trophy, you’ve got the confidence of having beaten top sides. The more Afghanistan play better cricket, the more experience the players are going to gain under pressure in big games.”
SQUADS FOR 1ST ODI IN SHARJAH
Proteas: Temba Bavuma (captain), Ottneil Baartman, Nandre Burger, Tony de Zorzi, Bjorn Fortuin, Reeza Hendricks, Aiden Markram, Wiaan Mulder, Lungi Ngidi, Andile Phehlukwayo, Nqaba Peter, Andile Simelane, Jason Smith, Tristan Stubbs, Kyle Verreynne, Lizaad Williams.
*Bavuma has been ruled out of the first ODI through illness
Afghanistan: Hashmatullah Shahidi (captain), Rahmat Shah, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Ikram Alikhil, Abdul Malik, Riaz Hassan, Darwish Rasooli, Azmatullah Omarzai, Mohammad Nabi, Gulbadin Naib, Rashid Khan, Nangeyalia Kharote, Allah Mohammad Ghazanfar, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Bilal Sami, Naveed Zadran, Fareed Ahmad.
Start: 2pm (SA time); TV: SuperSport