KABUL: After a decade of war, it may well be that cricket-loving parts of Afghanistan could set aside the violence for a day as the country’s national team faces off against neighbours Pakistan in one day international cricket match in Sharjah on Friday, the first between the two neighbours.
"I am personally a fan of cricket, I will follow this match closely," Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid told AFP.
Asked which side he would support, given reported backing for the insurgents from within Pakistan, he replied: "I pray that Afghans come out as winners."
Mujahid, who usually speaks to the media on his mobile phone about the state of the war, made it clear that he was speaking in his personal capacity, and not on behalf of the Taliban.
Afghanistan have played 18 one-day internationals since gaining status in 2009 but all their matches were against associate and affiliate teams Canada, the Netherlands, Ireland, Kenya and Scotland.
Now they face their first game against their neighbour, one of the world's great cricketing nations.
Friday's match in Sharjah Stadium is fitting because most of the Afghan players learnt the game in Pakistan while staying as refugees after the Soviet invasion of their country in 1979.
The game has a limited following in the capital Kabul but a strong following mainly in the south and east of the country, near the Pakistan border.
"Everybody loves cricket here," said Masoom, the owner of TV and satellite dish store in the southern provincial capital of Kandahar.
"I have sold a dozen dish sets in recent days because people are concerned the local TVs will not have a live broadcast."
"Whenever there is a cricket match here, people all forget about war, poverty or other miseries," said a customer who gave his name as Sami.
"Everybody looks so happy that you'd think there is no war in this country."
In the eastern city of Jalalabad, cricket fan Sedaqat Ghorzang said Friday would be an important day for all Afghans.
"We want to forget about war and watch this interesting match, we will win inshallah (God willing)."
Afghanistan gained a notable foot up on the world cricket stage by finishing fifth in the 2011 World Cup qualifiers which earned them the right to play one-day internationals.
Afghanistan, one of the 59 associate members of the International Cricket Council (ICC), are also the title holders of the Inter-Continental Cup meant for the Associate nations.
The ICC, which contributes approximately $700,000 a year to help Afghanistan's development in cricket, has shown great delight in their progress, terming it as "a success story in cricket".
COMMENTS (43)
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I have to give credit to Tribune here that they didn't refer to Pakistan as nuclear armed nation. Thank you very much Tribune, it really sounds stupid when you mention that fifity times in a 200 word article.
chill out everyone! its a game. and Pakistan has won! and despite other countries being "brothers" etc, i'll always root for pakistan to win!
I hope all the comments are in good humour. However, some of them are stupied and are but the enemies of our people - both Afghans and Pakistanis - we are all Afghan. So we must stop this childish display of candour and concentrate on the match.
@Rustam and @trueMuslim keep politics out of sports and no need to offend each other..thank you!
@Khalid
You can call yourself by any name but at the end of the day like Shahid Afridi said you are not a Pashtun if you don't speak Pashto. Language and culture and tribal traditions are intertwined and you lose the essence of your being when you lose your language and adopt another.
I hope Afghanistan becomes part of Pakistan as there is no difference between us brothers. Together we can form a powerful team and win all cricket matches. As a Pakistani province, Afghanistan will not be such a backward nation anymore. They can be given a name which they will love once they get used to it - Afghania.
Actually cricket is a dutch game @Faisal:
All the well wishes to Afghanistan Team and hope they win this one day today. It will be very good for the game in Afghanistan, it will expose more talented players, make it more popular, bring in more funds and create another country with a good team to compete internationally. Not that I want Pakistan to lose this one, but it would be good for Pakistan if Afghanistan wins. This will make Pakistan more alert, aware of their potholes, weaknesses, and time to get ready to fight it out with England this coming week in the one dayers. Good Luck to both Teams.
afghan cricket team is like a baby,but a baby can also do any thing ,so i gve a suggestion to pak team to do hard work and gve a tuff time to this baby team bkz in future it can make a problem for our team and we can never absorb this .so i hope pakistan will win this match on high marjin.
@Freidun: Anyone who speaks Pashto is considered Pashtun, but every Pashtun is not considered Pathan just because of Pashto (Pathans are always land owners, Khans, elite class who might have adopted different local languages other than Pashto but never give up their tribal traditions.
i really appreciate PCB for managing the match between PK vs AFG .i hope and support AFG team to win it
@Anon:
100% agreed .. Pathans are talented . Strong and Agressive .i have an experience of playing circket with Pathans .. they will destroy Aussies, England & Indian teams in future
@Freidun:
I am a non-pashtun but i do feel what you just stated, we must be a little careful.
@narayana murthy:
Pls dont bring these things at this point in time when two cricket-loving nations coming closer. I wish team Afghanistan all the best in future. When Pakistan is helping wealthy Chinese in cricket, why not talented Afghans who have few opportunities to show their talent in sports.
I appreciate PCB's move to give Afghan team a golden opportunity to prove themselves. PCB do give cash and training facilities to Afghan players so that the world get another cricket team, it will also help bring two countries closer on political fronts.
why are we so obbssesd with making brotherly relations? while we cry hoarse callnig afghans our brothers, they and their gov dont really give a crap about us! it is just a match btw two sides, my wish is the same as in every match my country plays, may we win!!
any realtion should be both ways, if we proclaim them as borthers, it should also be from their side right? it is not, they hope for thier win, bangladesh is never happy that oh we lost to our bro pakistan, they keep aside the realtions. however our captain refferred it is ok to lose to our brothers !thats just dumb! lets learn form history, put country first then other relations, just becoz they are muslims dsnt mean you have to have the best realtions with them, ideally yes , but for afghans we are not their friend so we shlouldnt keep following them as lapping them up. it should be tit for tat.
At last, we are seeing a soft image of Afghanistan - Keep it up
lolzZ @ Syed I'm positive they won't :)
@Zabiullah Mujahid Sb: Do you really like cricket?... but let me tell you this game was invented by Britian... you should give a second thought before watching this game...
Cricket is sport of peace...
Pakistani cricket made its name thanks to the Afghans from the occupied lands of Loy Afghanistan. Sooner or later, we shall remind them as with their ancestors as to which people owns whom...Wallah Chpraedum!
@Shery Baloch who writes "Brother Vs Brother … take it easy its just a game……"
LOL. I'm sure you say the same thing when Pakistan with Bangladesh!!! However, these brothers can't live in one country, let alone a home!!!
Please stop calling Pashtuns by their colonial name Pathan. Pashtuns/Pakhtuns don't refer to themselves as Pathans.
Pakistan is expected to beat minnows Afghanistan and it should not be considered a great accomplishment. Afghans will learn much from this match and gain experience in becoming a top class cricketing nation.
@Pakistani First: ull never be happy. if they had played india, u wouldve made an issue out of it. Now that they r playing pakistan, u still have a problem. its JUST a game. Wonder when will we pakistanis grow and be more mature.
@Sky
Yes he is. His full name is Misbah ul Haq Khan Niazi.
Win or loose best wishes to Afghan team, they are up against a though Pakistan team. I want to see Pakistan win but on the other hand I don't want to see Afghanistan loose, strange situation...!!!
May the best team win
I hope they dont bomb any cricket facility in Pakistan when Afghanistan looses.
@Zeffos and @Abdul Afghanis are no brothers. They are just living on Pakistani soil and bringing our economy down. When will ever understand that if Pathans are our brother they would not come to Pakistan and take away our jobs.
@Anon: A typical Indian comment. Pakistan cricket is not limited to ethnic basis. It is the culture of Pakistan cricket which encourages spontaneous world class talent without any great facilities.
As a brotherly gesture, I would love to see Pakistani players embracing Afghani players (brothers) before the start of the game. While showing their supremacy in cricket I would also want Pakistani players to guide/advise them on and off the field.
Why don't the Afghans have their first match with their brotherly country, India? They hate us so much and love India still always keep coming back to us for favours. A classic case of hunt with the hound and run with the hare.
@Anon: I did Not know that misbah was a Pathan. Can any one else confirm.
@Iqbal Khan: Please show some sportsmanship.
We are playing a brotherly country and it does not really matter who wins or loses as long as there is a good match
Its a SPORTS event. May PEACE emerge as the Victor. :)
These pathans learning cricket is a very dangerous thing for Pakistan and international cricket in general. We have a handful of Pathans Shahid Afridi, Younis Khan and Misbah and they have been terrorising other teams with their outstanding performances. Imagine all 11 members of Afghan team being Pathans debuting international cricket - international cricket will be destroyed by these heavy hitters.
Zabiullah Mujahid is a troll and a stooge for not realizing that he approves of colonial heritage.
@ Iqbal-Khan : Sir please wake up. This is cricket anything is possible, remember Pakistan against Ireland ! As SalSal pointed out may the best side win.
Brother Vs Brother ... take it easy its just a game......
@Iqbal: No one has to crush anyone. This is a game, instead of using it as an opportunity to develop love, you'r still stuck on extremes. May friendship win.
May the most hardworking team win :) I wish Pakistan and Afghanistan play a brotherly match and have a tie. I know it's almost impossible. But still I would want smiles in the cricket field on both the brother's faces :)
Pakistanis will crush Afghanis in and off the field.