It has taken less than eight months for Afghanistan to jump from the fifth division of world cricket to one level below the major Test-playing countries. The team from the war-torn nation continued one of sport's unlikeliest success stories by winning the third division in Argentina last week, a six-team tournament which doubles as a qualifier for the World Cup.
Last May Afghanistan were playing in the fifth division of the International Cricket Council's world league. Having finished top of that in a tournament played in Jersey, they then came top in the fourth-division tournament in Tanzania last October.
In April they travel to South Africa with a chance of qualifying for the 2011 World Cup or gaining coveted one-day-international status while, back in Afghanistan, their national television network charts the team's progress and thousands of people turn out to welcome them home after their tournament wins.
The national coach, Kabir Khan, describes his team as ambassadors for the country, offering a change from the stereotyped image of religious fanatics and interminable violence. "We might be the first Afghans to come to Argentina, so we were the ambassadors for Afghanistan," he said. "Most people might have got a view about us and the sort of nation we may be, because of all the war and stuff. They might think all kinds of things but they welcomed us with open arms and we have been treated very well here."Cricket is getting a huge following and it brings people together as well," he said, adding that the players never discussed politics among themselves. "What I've seen is that people might be in different groups politically but when it comes to cricket all of them are together."
Remarkably the sport has only recently been introduced to the country by Afghans who were raised in neighbouring Pakistan, in particular in the city of Peshawar. "Before the war started and before people started migrating to Pakistan, there was no sense of cricket," said Khan, himself a Pakistani who played four Tests and 10 ODIs for his country in the 1990s. "Nobody even knew about cricket. But the boys who migrated, started to learn about cricket because there was nothing else in Pakistan. It's a game which you can play in the street, that's how they got into this sport."
Last May Afghanistan were playing in the fifth division of the International Cricket Council's world league. Having finished top of that in a tournament played in Jersey, they then came top in the fourth-division tournament in Tanzania last October.
In April they travel to South Africa with a chance of qualifying for the 2011 World Cup or gaining coveted one-day-international status while, back in Afghanistan, their national television network charts the team's progress and thousands of people turn out to welcome them home after their tournament wins.
The national coach, Kabir Khan, describes his team as ambassadors for the country, offering a change from the stereotyped image of religious fanatics and interminable violence. "We might be the first Afghans to come to Argentina, so we were the ambassadors for Afghanistan," he said. "Most people might have got a view about us and the sort of nation we may be, because of all the war and stuff. They might think all kinds of things but they welcomed us with open arms and we have been treated very well here."Cricket is getting a huge following and it brings people together as well," he said, adding that the players never discussed politics among themselves. "What I've seen is that people might be in different groups politically but when it comes to cricket all of them are together."
Remarkably the sport has only recently been introduced to the country by Afghans who were raised in neighbouring Pakistan, in particular in the city of Peshawar. "Before the war started and before people started migrating to Pakistan, there was no sense of cricket," said Khan, himself a Pakistani who played four Tests and 10 ODIs for his country in the 1990s. "Nobody even knew about cricket. But the boys who migrated, started to learn about cricket because there was nothing else in Pakistan. It's a game which you can play in the street, that's how they got into this sport."
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