Cricket Team: When people talk of Afghanistan, a country that has been marred with decades of conflict and war, cricket is probably the last thing on their mind. But the way the Afghanistan cricket team has carried itself despite all the challenges shows how sport can mend the spirit of a nation.

Cricket Team Early Struggle

Although the Afghanistan Cricket Federation (now ACB) was formed in 1995, it took some time for cricket to reach the grassroots. Initially, most of the Afghan players learnt the sport in refugee camps in Pakistan. Since all games were banned at home by the Taliban, they had to take part in Pakistan’s domestic circuit, which was a blessing in disguise as it helped them grow as players.

In 2000, the Taliban made an exception and approved cricket, and, in 2001, the International Cricket Council (ICC) gave recognition to Afghanistan cricket. That is where their long journey began. The team started by playing domestic cricket in Pakistan and gradually ventured into Asian regional cricket.

With their limited resources and conflict-ridden history, they didn’t make it big straightaway. But players like Mohammad Nabi—still a part of the team—gave hope to the other budding players that cricket could be the way forward. After early failures, they improved somewhere between 2006-2007 and won a couple of domestic tournaments.

Cricket Team Arrival to International Cricket

Afghanistan later played a few World Cup qualifiers but couldn’t get through. However, in 2011, they became the first affiliate country to get the ODI (One Day International) status from ICC and played their first game against Scotland. Till then, they had played enough T20 Internationals as well. In 2012, they played a few ODIs against Test-playing nations (Pakistan and Australia) after years of playing against affiliate teams.

The consistent performances at the associate level earned them a place in the 2015 ODI World Cup, which was a massive feat for a team that had played all of its cricket in refugee camps. They could only win one match but some of the players showed great promise. The emergence of players like Rashid Khan, who went on to play Indian Premier League (IPL) and other major franchise leagues, made budding Afghan players believe they could do it too.

Around 2016, after having received some international exposure, their next step was to compete against top teams. They started it with a series against West Indies followed by a few more top teams. It prompted the ICC to give Afghanistan the much-reputed Test status in 2017 and they responded brilliantly by pulling off a win in its second-ever Test against Ireland.

The Change Of Cricket Team

Even then, for the rest of the world to take them seriously, the team needed to do something big, and it wasn’t coming their way. They had an ordinary 2019 ODI World Cup and couldn’t do much in T20 World Cups in 2021 and 2022.

Ahead of the 2023 ODI World Cup, Afghanistan made a few changes to the coaching staff, and brought in the likes of former England international Jonathan Trott as the head coach. They came all guns blazing in the tournament, defeating defending champions England and almost pushing out Australia.

Their campaign in the 2023 World Cup made everyone see Afghanistan differently. They failed to make it to the semis but their performance was a testament to their capabilities.