Disappointed with having a missed out on an Asia Cup berth, the Afghanistan cricket team is looking for better times ahead.

By Himanshu Shekhar

Afghanistan has always been in the news for wrong reasons. But thanks to the meteoric rise of cricket, the war-torn nation has grabbed eyeballs not only in the western media or romantics of Hollywood, but also in the masses.

Their victories in the ICC World Cup qualifiers, where they emerged as table toppers, have helped them outweigh the defeats of the past and has turned the team and coaching staff into national heroes. The local games attract crowd in thousands and short kurtas have replaced the traditional knee length kurta-pyjama when teens join in the playing ground.

But today, when the Asian Cricket Council is finding it tough to accommodate Afghanistan as a fifth member, the nation is getting ready for a big push in terms of infrastructural development and is hopeful that the deadlock will break in near future.

However, despite their rise to official ODI status and their qualification for the ICC World T20, the Asian Cricket Council has denied them an entry in the Asia Cup.

“Afghanistan cricket has seen tougher times in the past and we are used to such disappointments. But, we are not taking the whole issue lightly and will raise the matter with ICC in its June 28th meeting,” Aimal Shinwari, CEO Afghanistan Cricket Board told espnstar.com, when asked about Asian Cricket Council’s refusal on allowing them as a fifth team.

But the players and management have not taken the disappointment to their heart and are hopeful that better things are round the corner.

“Conflicts promote cricket in Afghanistan and our players are used to it,” Shinwari said when asked about the future of the game in country.

“We have also managed to get the fifty over knock out matches televised live on Afghan national television. The successful coverage has helped us in registering 29 provinces for this year’s tournament,” Shinwari added.

Shinwari had more good news for the lovers of the game, “Construction of a international cricket stadium is on in Kabul and we are expecting it to be a state of art thing. USAID has allocated a fund of USD 2 millions for it and the work is being done by CARE International.”

“Meanwhile Sharjah Cricket authorities have allowed us to use their stadium as a home ground; so that addresses our immediate problem. We have invited Zimbabwe for a friendly series in Abu Dhabi. The idea is to play more matches and gain some more international exposure,” Shinwari added.

“One of the major cause of our exclusion from the Asia Cup was the reason that we don’t pull crowd, especially the television spectators. The team, cricket management and the government have taken a pledge to change all that and show the world that all Afghanistan stories are not just about agony and war.,” Shinwari concluded.

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