Afghanistan Cricket - a romantic tale amid calamity, chaos and catastrophe - Part 2 - Opinion
Continued from Part 1...
The Emirates triumph and the rewards which came after it, gave Afghanistan a chance to showcase their talent in the 2010 http://www.senore.com/Cricket/West-Indies-c760. The odds were against them to win anything substantial, but the results of the games
against India and South Africa might not do justice to the impact that http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Afghanistan-c745 had on the tournament as a whole. The fact that they embraced the field for the very first time in a major tournament, prompted hundreds of their fans to flood into the stadiums
at Gros Islet and Bridgetown, wishing them well and waving the tri-colored flag.
Both games saw Afghanistan being extremely competitive on the field as batsman http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750’s
might and muscle, but it pinpointed at how Afghanistan was competitive for the most part of the game, a trait that was rare among associate member nations in the past. Their next game eventually became a must win for them and was against South Africa at the
Kensington Oval. The Afghan players won many hearts by bowling with ferocity, and restricting one of the best sides in T20 cricket to just 139/7 in 20 overs. The bowling effort of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Hamid-Hassan-c1524 was lauded by everyone who watched the game, and cheeky thoughts
of an upset on the cards were being whispered to and fro. South Africa were eventually, too hot to handle as the bouncy Barbados wicket meant that the likes of Steyn and Morkel ripped through a largely fallible line up. Afghanistan were bowled out for just
80, yet for almost half of the game they made sure that http://www.senore.com/Cricket/South-Africa-c757 had a run for their money. The players had done enough to impress everyone.
The T20 performances hinted at shades of brilliance for the team, and underlined the wealth of talent that a country such as Afghanistan has. The absence of a proper domestic structure and constant internal instability were factors that had marred the peaceful
progression of Afghan players into the international arena. In such horrendous times, the achievements of the Afghanistan cricket team seem to be more commendable, and surpass feats which have been achieved by teams such as http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Bermuda-c2853 in the past.
The fact that failure needs to be tasted before success also holds true for a side such as Afghanistan. More games need to be played between the Afghans and top quality oppositions in order for them to truly become a dangerous underdog. In recent times however,
Afghanistan has shown that even in the fifty over format, they can compete against some of the best teams in the world. Their two recent games against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 in the scorching heat of Sharjah, hinted at possible upsets, where scores of 197 in
their first innings against the former and 206 in their second innings against the latter, meant that they were not exactly push overs. For a team that barely plays at the international level, the achievements in those games seem to be a romantic tale in an
otherwise barren story for the Afghans. Their physical fitness, penchant for winning and competitive nature is a true reflection of the modern day Afghan who toils hard in pressing times. Amid all the turmoil, cricket has definitely been the winner.
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