From India's largest newsroom, I'm Arun George and this is the Times of India podcast. Everybody here is on their feet and that is naked Ben Maxwell. Unbelievable. The most remarkable thing you'll probably ever see in cricket. Staggering. Absolutely. And he should not have to walk off the park.
He should. Be Yes, that performance by Glenn Maxwell was the best ever played in a One Day International. But let's not forget that before he kicked off that inning, Australia was struggling against one of the most notable teams in this World Cup. It's a squad that includes Rashid Khan, Ramanullah Gurbaz, Ibrahim Zadran, Hashmatullah Shahidi and Asmathullah Omar Zai. If the 1992 World Cup was all about South Africa, this World Cup is all about Afghanistan.
The team from a country reeling from an earthquake and mass migrations from Pakistan at the time of this recording are technically just to win away from qualifying for the semifinals. Unfortunately, out of the three teams in that race, they have the lowest chances of
qualifying. That's a shame for the team that beat world champions England, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and the Netherlands. In fact, if it hadn't been for a man named Glenn Maxwell and an initial loss to Bangladesh in the tournament, they had a very good chance of making it to the semifinals. But what explains A-Team from one of the poorest countries in the world punching well above
their weight in world cricket? To understand that, my colleague Pinaki Chakraborty spoke with Washington based journalist and author Jafar Hahn who has been writing about Afghan cricket since it began playing Afghan cricket. Jafar's book titled 3 Century Cricket History in the World in Afghanistan is one of the best books to read if you want an insight on cricket in a country where the sport is not just a
game in today's episode. Jafar talks with Pinaki about the rise of cricket in Afghanistan, how the Taliban view cricket and the biggest takeaways from the tournament. The interview was recorded, incidentally, just before Australia beat Afghanistan and cemented their place in the semi finals. Jafar says that when Afghanistan joined the International Cricket Council, there was no cricket ground or any other infrastructure in the country.
So the first generation of cricketers were those who learned to play in refugee camps in Pakistan. Those who learn cricket in the Fuji camps in camp to Afghanistan to play for Afghanistan. So in my book History of Cricketing, I categorize like Afghan players into two generation, the first generation and the second generation. So the first generation like, they struggled very hard, they worked very hard and they believed in themselves and they had like self-confidence.
At the time, the 2001 World Trade Center attacks hadn't taken place and the Taliban was still in power. Jaffar says the Taliban didn't raise too many objections to the rise of cricket because many of them were fans of the game themselves. Jaffar says that given the limitations they had, the first Afghan team had little beyond dreams of making it big. Most of Taliban, they used to live in Pakistan and they know how to play cricket. They have been watching India and Bangladesh, Zealand,
Pakistan playing cricket. They love cricket. They are not against the game of cricket. So during the first term of Taliban, this Taliban didn't believe that Afghanistan will reach this level. They say, OK, a few people are here and they're just trying to play a game of cricket. So let them play a lot. At Murray, he was determined that he could bring international cricket to Afghanistan.
He told me, like when he started Kirkland in Afghanistan, that people in Kabul, they didn't know what is cricket and they thought this is Pakistani game and these people, these refugees, they are bringing a Pakistani game to Afghan land. And there were a strong oppositions towards them, but they were determined and they started cricket. At that time Afghanistan didn't have like even a small ground off cricket and they were playing on the streets like in
some ground off schools. And there were only one ground in Kabul, in a place we call it Wazir Akbar Khan. Near British embassy and these players, the first generation Aladdin Nuri and his teammates, they were playing in Wazir Akbar Khan. They started from there but they believe that they will make it happen like it in that you you can see now. There are international stars
now. But things changed considerably in Afghanistan after 2000. After the formation of AUS backed Republic. The Taliban seized power again in 2021. The Afghan team presently plays under a flag that is not recognized by the Taliban anymore. The Taliban are against various forms of arts and culture. But cricket?
Well, cricket gets a free pass. Jaffer tells Pinaki that all the players in the Afghan team presently have family in Afghanistan. He also says that over the years, many Afghan cricketers have had to oblige fans from the ranks of the Taliban. One category of players, they don't live in Afghanistan because they are very busy playing franchise, for example Rashid Gurbas, Mujib.
So they live in Dubai and when they finish with IPL they go to Big Bash. When they finish with Big Bash, they go to Vitality Blast. When they finish with Vitality Blast they go to PSL. So they are very busy but they have family back home. So when I talked to them, they said like we have no problem with the current government or with the current situation plus it one of the Afghan.
And players told me like that this is a tradition in Afghanistan. During the eat people are going to each other home and having some tea and discussion. And he said, like I had dozens of Taliban, they were visiting me and they were feeling selfie with me and just come to see me, nothing else. And they will say like you, player doing really good, be proud of you, keep it up and that, this and that, even during the Republic.
I remember once I was writing an article about Afghanistan Turkic and I contacted as a journalist we could contact Taliban fighters. At that time I contacted Taliban spokesperson the Behala Mujahid and I asked him, hey, I have a question about this Kirk and he said we are in war but we have no problem with Kirkuk. So even during the war they were supporting the Afghan Kirku team. In my book I mentioned another story from Karim Khan Sadiq.
During the three days of ceasefire, I think it was in 2019, it was during the war between the Taliban and the Afghanistan government and there was a three days ceasefire, Karim Sadiq told me. Like he went to the area under the Taliban. One of like, the Taliban fighters come and started firing, celebrating the arrival of Karim Sadiq, he said. Like, oh, I'm big fan of you. I I'm really happy to see you. There is love for Kirkuk among Taliban, especially the young generation of Taliban.
I don't think there have been a problem with the with the Kirkuk. We interviewed the chairman of Afghanistan Kirkuk, Burmidos Ashraf, He said like we we have the Taliban government support. They are not interfering in our affairs. They are just telling us like you guys are doing great job in Tibetop and if you think we can be of any help just let us know. Where does the team function out of? Does it function out of Kabul or
Dubai? No different like the player who are based in Afghanistan, they function in in Afghanistan and the chairman and other high-ranking officials of the ECB who based in Kabul, they are functioning peers. They have a home grown in in UAE. So far they are international matches, They go to UAE, but they are bases in Kabul and they have an international ground in
Kabul, Kabul ground. They do their practice station, they do their warm up matches, they do the everything in Kabul, Afghanistan and other provinces too. In a country where thousands depend on Eid, Jaffer says the Taliban don't want to mess with the sport that seems to have support that goes beyond all other boundaries. Afghanistan Kirkland Board is not like a part of the Taliban
government. People who are heading the board are not Taliban like Chairman of Afghanistan Kirkland Board is the former Kirkland Player of Afghanistan National Team and their coaches are not Taliban. The important thing is Kirkland in Afghanistan doesn't belong to any political party. It doesn't belong to Taliban. It doesn't belong to.
The former government but yes it does belong to anyone, to any Afghan. Either it is Talib or non Talib or any kind of Afghan. The Taliban and other political parties know that if they get involved in Turkic, there will be some strong decision by the International Turkic Council and by the neighboring countries like India, Pakistan and other countries. They know that. How has cricket managed to enrich the differences between the various tribes? And the people in Afghanistan.
Well, Kirkland is the only port in Afghanistan that like you can find in every province of Afghanistan. Afghanistan has 34 provinces and there are over 6000 registered Cricket Club with ACB and you can find Cricket Club in Panchsir in Iraq like neighboring Iran. So Iran is good in soccer, but they didn't don't have any. Any game of cricket. But cricket is being played in Hirad, in Mazar, even in Bamiyan.
People in Afghanistan, they believe Afghanistan is doing very good in Kirkuk and Afghans has natural talent in Kirkuk like for example Mujibin Rashid. But Rashid has never trained in any professional cricket Academy to learn how to evolve. Google you can find. Hundreds of players like Rashid and like like Gurbas. So having this kind of talent in in your country of course if you want or not. So it helps you to promote or to develop.
I was in in Australia last year for the the coverage of T220 World Cup in Australia. There is a big Hazara community. Hazara is not. I have seen hundreds of Hazara were coming, cheering and supporting Afghanistan cricket team. I interviewed a very old Hazara Afghan and he told me, my son, I don't know what is cricket, but I'm here just to support Afghanistan. So cricket unites Afghanistan. Cricket is like playing a crucial role in unity and in giving hopes in Afghanistan.
In Afghanistan, so we have different tribes, so they don't things like, oh, people from met tribe is not playing in this team. So this is not my team. No, it's not this case. They think this is Afghanistan team and they represent Afghanistan Afghan players.
They respect every tribe and they have support of every tribe in Afghanistan. We have a good player from east part of Afghanistan and from South part of Afghanistan like Burbas and Ibrahim is from South part of Afghanistan to Afghanistan E part of Afghanistan. We have no players from Hira now, but maybe after this World Cup we will be having like good players from other provinces,
from other tribes too. Jaffa recounts an incident that shows just how much people love the sport in the country. He says even during the World Cup, one would have never guessed that the footage emerging after the defeat of Pakistan was from Afghanistan. I remember there was a suicide attack during Ishpa Giza domestic cricket league. There was a match in Kabul. Ground in A suicide attack happened. And people didn't stop. They said like, no, we don't care about any suicide attack.
We don't care about anything. We just want to go to watch Afghan players. We just want to go to enjoy our game. Cricket is the only hopes and the only thing that brings smiles on their faces. So it it is more than a game, more than cricket in
Afghanistan, to be honest. Afghanistan just beat Pakistan in the World Cup. Afghanistan didn't sleep at that night and I received hundreds of widows from different parts of Afghanistan. People were dancing during the Taliban. They were dancing, they were playing music, they were chanting, they didn't sleep. If there is fighting or work or if. There is peace, so cricket will be on in Afghanistan and people will watch it and people will support it.
Jaffa says this World Cup was expected to be better than previous ones for Afghanistan, given the experienced players that the team has, as well as the familiarity many players have with Indian conditions. But he says even die hard fans like him did not expect this much from the squad. A person who is following Afghanistan cricket like for
almost 2 decades now. In writing about them I thought like Afghanistan maybe win two or three matches and Sri Lanka and Bangladesh were in my mind like so we can beat this in our Netherlands of course, but when they beat England it was it was breaking news to me. I'm not saying upset because I I don't like this this term to use for Afghanistan cricket now. And when they beat Pakistan, like, oh, I can say like, oh, now they can go farther. I can see a different Afghan
Turkey team now. And this is a big history for Afghanistan. I can see this team has like strong unity and spirit and also desire to men and determination. A lot of things going on in Afghanistan. Earthquake hit Afghanistan really badly and people are really sad and also recently another wave of refugee like experts from Pakistan to Afghanistan and these things like motivated Afghan players who work hard to bring smiles on
Afghan faces. Jaffa says the most pleasant surprise for him in this World Cup was the performance of the batters. Before the World Cup, everyone was talking about Afghanistan bonding. Of course, Afghanistan spin side is very strong, but after the World Cup, you can see like a very solid batting side. Hashmat, Rahmat, Ikramin, Adamat. So they changed the trend, they changed the face of Kirkit, they changed the Afghanistan Kirkit team in this World Cup.
Jaffer says the success of international stars like Rashid Khan has resulted in creating a lot of support for the cricketing ecosystem in the country compared to when the first Afghan team started playing. Jaffer says this World Cup is going to herald a new chapter in the history of Afghan cricket. Even if Afghanistan plays semifinal, I can guarantee you we will be having like dozens of players like Rashid track Gurbas track Mujib in 5-10 years. These people are inspiring generation.
If they play semi final or if they win the World Cup they can do it, they can do it. So there will be a game changer for Afghanistan forever. Then Afghanistan cricket will be not like the the one that we saw 5-10 years ago. This World Cup started just opened another chapter in
Afghanistan cricket history. For the first time in a World Cup game they have won four matches so far and this is a new chapter for the Afghanistan capitan, for future of Afghanistan. Then I'm sure we will be having very, very talent player in 5-10 years in Afghanistan. Today's episode was produced by Jayaraj Singh and Anuja Singh.
For a daily spotlight on people, ideas, and stories that matter, subscribe to us. We're available on TOI, Spotify, Apple, Google Podcasts, and all other platforms of your choice. For any new steps, e-mail us at TOI Podcast at Timesinternet dot in.