Afghan team cricket

FreedomFighter

Junior Member
:salam2:

Afghan coach keeps eye on the prize
By Andy Richardson in Johannesburg

Timing in life, sport and particularly cricket can be everything.

Just ask Mohammad Iqbal Sikander.

That he played only four one day matches for Pakistan suggests a moderate international career.

But those four games were all at the 1992 World Cup, a campaign which culminated in his country winning their first and only world title.

Never say die

"We lost three of our first five matches at that tournament, and had we lost one more game we would have been packing our bags and heading home.

"It goes to show in sport you should never give up, never say die."

It is a philosophy that perfectly sums up the approach of the Afghanistan team he is now helping to coach.

The side are currently in South Africa, the latest stop on their unlikely but inspiring bid to qualify for the 2011 World Cup.

"In five years this Afghanistan team have come from nowhere. To qualify for the world cup will be a miracle and it will do so much for cricket in the country.

"It is already the number one game there but if they reach the World Cup everything will change again. It will be something so great for Afghanistan.

"No one can imagine the impact it will have there."

Sikander believes the team have the mental toughness to succeed.

Rewarding project


Iqbal maintains a geographically ambitious lifestyle. He now lives with his wife in the small city of Waterloo in Canada but works full time as a development officer for the Asian Cricket Council.

His attachment to the Afghanistan team is, he says, the toughest but most rewarding project of his post-playing career.

"Trying to develop the game inside Afghanistan is not easy. It is difficult for outsiders to go into places like Kandahar and Jalalabad, so our plan is to train local players who can then become coaches in the provinces.

"But now there are many kidnappings and bombings in Kabul as well. It makes it hard for us to do any work there at all.

"However if we continue to provide facilities and share our experience then I am convinced the game will continue to grow."

Street cricket

The ultra-competitive mindset of the current Afghanistan team reflects this background.

Most learnt the game playing street cricket in the refugee camps of Pakistan they were brought up in during the Soviet-Afghan war.

That those same players have risen to the brink of a World Cup place is, Iqbal says, down to a combination of their natural talent and the mental toughness they had to acquire just to survive their formative years.

"When times are difficult I also remind the players of my experiences at the World Cup.

"When it looked like we would be knocked out of the tournament, Imran Khan, our captain and leader, showed us how to go forward.

"Before a crucial match he stood up wearing a shirt which had a tiger on it.

He said, 'This tiger has its back to the wall. We cannot go back any further. The only way we can go is forward. If we lose the game I will take all the blame, I will not let anyone point fingers at you. All I ask of you is to give everything in this match.'

"Well, as we all know, the team responded and eventually we won the World Cup.

"So my message to the Afghanistan team is always to go out there and fight like tigers. That way, even if they lose, they will always be able to hold their heads high."

Results & Fixtures
ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier Apr 1 - Apr 19 2009

1 April
Denmark v Afghanistan
Afg bt Den by 5 wickets

2 April
Bermuda v Afghanistan
Afg win by 60 runs

4 April
Kenya v Afghanistan
Ken bt Afg by 107 runs

6 April
Netherlands v Afghanistan
Ned bt Afg by 5 wickets

8 April
UAE v Afghanistan

Source: Al-Jazeera
 

FreedomFighter

Junior Member
ok no one seems to care... in a country that is war torn, i thought this would be something great. brokgen insidw. well, Afghanistan..realy mish you..
 

FreedomFighter

Junior Member
i think outside the country, because last time they were saying that can be dangerous inside the country, plus they are already having matches, so ya outside the country
 

AlQurtubi

Banned
alrite.. but they must be a weaker time since they dont have any coaching etc. IF they continue playing, they will be a good team
 

AlQurtubi

Banned
loool. sister.. i decided to post earlier but got busy in other work. Its very bad that you are thinking of me like this
 

FreedomFighter

Junior Member
:salam2:

i did not mean it like that, i meant about the team. wallahi brother AlQurtubi im sry. maybe i was upset. no im not thinking like that. im sry if i hurt you by saying that. i take it back. i think i only post that up because its afghan team, or else im not so into cricket, i played it a few times before. pakistanis are fond of cricket. do you play cricket? maybe ppl are not interested in cricket. am typing fast, im in hurry
 

IbnAhmad

Junior Member
salaam

mashaAllah i didnt know Afghanistan had a cricket team!!!...how wonderful would it be to see a Pakistan v Afghanistan World Cup Final one day.....

keep smiling :) :)
take care

wassalam
 

*Sana*

.~.Slave of Allah.~.
Assalamualaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakaatu,

how wonderful would it be to see a Pakistan v Afghanistan World Cup Final one day.....

SubhanAllah! That is an overwhelming thought :) Being an Afghan and born in Pakistan, I couldn't never pick between the two. Growing up being a big cricket fan I have always supported the Pakistani team. And now SubhanAllah we have an Afghan team too.

May they succeed in both this life and the hereafter Insha Allah.

Assalamualaikum :)
 

FreedomFighter

Junior Member
:salam2:

yes that'd be great!!! :) something to look forward to, a team to support, lol if im interested then i should follow up with what's going on lol..
 
i stand alone here..where are the afghans members if there are any..im glad for the team

Salaam,

Thanks for sharing the news. I played cricket when I was real real young but since then my hobby has shifted towards basketball - there is a Afghan basketball team that was created about 2-3 years ago and competed in the Asian games.

Inshallah Afghans will defeat U.S. & Western aggression so life will improve socially and economically.

BTW, I am from Afghanistan :)
 

FreedomFighter

Junior Member
:salam2:

oh :). hmm, i see sometimes your threads are on Afghanistan and the war there, thanks for posting those. i saw the basketball team for girls on youtube. wasnt all bad actually. the recent news on cricket was that they beat Irish in suprise win, it was in the tiny headlines on aljazeera. i tried looking for the article for that
 
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