{"id":11458,"date":"2023-11-09T03:35:00","date_gmt":"2023-11-09T03:35:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/business\/crisis-hit-afghanistan-celebrates-surprise-cricket-world-cup-success\/"},"modified":"2023-11-09T03:35:00","modified_gmt":"2023-11-09T03:35:00","slug":"crisis-hit-afghanistan-celebrates-surprise-cricket-world-cup-success","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/?p=11458","title":{"rendered":"Crisis-hit Afghanistan celebrates surprise Cricket World Cup success"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>Unlock the Editor\u2019s Digest for free<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__content-sign-up-topic-description\"><span>Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe class=\"article__content-sign-up-iframe close\" scrolling=\"no\" id=\"signUpIframe\" data-prev-url=\"\/register\/in-article-sign-up?ft-content-uuid=51c37e7c-6d09-4d22-94b6-f56649ba668d\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<div id=\"article-body\">\n<p>Afghanistan\u2019s cricket team have emerged as the underdog success story of the Cricket World Cup in India, with historic victories that have enthralled fans and catapulted the crisis-hit nation into the sport\u2019s elite.<\/p>\n<p>The men\u2019s team, a newcomer to high-level cricket, has beaten teams including current world champions England and Afghanistan\u2019s arch-rival Pakistan during the six-week tournament that started last month. They play South Africa in Ahmedabad on Friday with a hope of qualifying for the semi-finals for the first time.<\/p>\n<p>Afghanistan\u2019s cricketing rise over the past decade has been among the most unexpected stories in global sport, as a country racked by war \u2014 and with little cricketing history \u2014 became a formidable on-field force.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s unique in that they\u2019ve achieved so much against the odds. And deservedly so,\u201d said Simon Hughes, a former cricket player-turned-commentator. \u201cIt\u2019s fantastic for the game to have a team like this playing so well.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>To many fans, the Afghan team represents an open, inclusive vision of the country that was largely erased when the Taliban seized control in 2021 and set about creating one of the world\u2019s most repressive regimes.<\/p>\n<p>The Taliban has embraced the sport since its return to power, but the team continues to play under the black, red and green national flag of the toppled government. Stars such as captain Rashid Khan have called on the country\u2019s rulers to rescind their ban on education for girls and many players are based overseas.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"n-content-image n-content-image--full\"><picture><source media=\"(min-width: 700px)\"  width=\"2273\" height=\"1515\"><\/source><source media=\"(max-width: 490px)\"  width=\"1537\" height=\"1537\"><\/source><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/https:\/\/d1e00ek4ebabms.cloudfront.net\/production\/c784062d-acdc-419b-a71c-212b93ce3521.jpg\" alt=\"Girls playing cricket in a school playground\" data-image-type=\"image\" width=\"2273\" height=\"1515\"><\/picture><figcaption class=\"n-content-picture__caption\"><span>Afghan girls play cricket in Kabul in 2010. The Taliban banned women from playing the sport after it returned to power in 2021<\/span><span> <!-- -->\u00a9 Shah Marai\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The Afghanistan Cricket Board nonetheless answers to the Taliban, in a tense compromise with global cricketing authorities.<\/p>\n<p>Women are no longer allowed to play cricket in the country, with the national women\u2019s team disbanded and its players forced to flee abroad. Australia, which on Tuesday narrowly defeated Afghanistan, earlier this year cancelled an individual series against the men\u2019s side in protest against the Taliban\u2019s repression of women\u2019s rights.<\/p>\n<p>At home, the team\u2019s World Cup successes have been welcomed in a country struggling with multiple crises. US and international sanctions imposed since the Taliban took over have devastated the economy, leading to a surge in poverty and forcing millions of people into hunger.<\/p>\n<p>Afghanistan was also last month struck by several powerful earthquakes that aid groups have said killed roughly 1,000 people. The UN Development Programme said Afghanistan was now among \u201cthe poorest two or three countries in the world\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor about four decades we\u2019ve been suffering from wars,\u201d said Umar, a 33-year-old former cricketer who lives in Jalalabad in eastern Afghanistan.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWithout cricket we didn\u2019t have any other way of happiness,\u201d said Umar, who preferred to be identified by a single name. \u201cIt means a lot for us.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"n-content-image n-content-image--full\"><picture><source media=\"(min-width: 700px)\"  width=\"2191\" height=\"1460\"><\/source><source media=\"(max-width: 490px)\"  width=\"1352\" height=\"1351\"><\/source><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/https:\/\/d1e00ek4ebabms.cloudfront.net\/production\/ccbc3075-3d6e-44f0-891c-ca3ff1b2614d.jpg\" alt=\"A policeman looks at debris from a bomb attack in 2018\" data-image-type=\"image\" width=\"2191\" height=\"1460\"><\/picture><figcaption class=\"n-content-picture__caption\"><span>The aftermath of the deadly bomb attack at a cricket stadium in Jalalabad in 2018<\/span><span> <!-- -->\u00a9 Mohammad Anwar Danishyar\/AP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The hardline Islamist Taliban cracked down on sports when it first ruled the country in the 1990s, before being ousted in a US-backed invasion in 2001. <\/p>\n<p>Cricket took hold in Afghanistan thanks to its popularity among refugees in Pakistan, who brought the sport back with them. Afghanistan joined the International Cricket Council in 2001 and achieved full member status in 2017.<\/p>\n<p>Players such as Khan and Mujeeb Ur Rahman have since become international stars, honing their skills by regularly playing in top domestic tournaments such as the Indian Premier League.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey have none of the framework that has helped cricket grow in other countries,\u201d said Sharda Ugra, a sports writer based in India. \u201cThey\u2019ve been Afghanistan\u2019s feel-good story over all these years.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But the sport continued to face resistance from violent extremists. A bomb attack on a 2018 cricket tournament in Jalalabad that Umar helped to organise killed eight people.<\/p>\n<p>Despite the giant-killing victories, Afghanistan is sixth out of 10 in the tournament rankings and faces a tricky path to the semi-finals. <\/p>\n<p>The team on Tuesday suffered a narrow defeat to Australia, which had been in trouble until batsman Glenn Maxwell scored 201 runs.<\/p>\n<p>To stay in the competition, Afghanistan needs not only to defeat South Africa on Friday but for New Zealand and Pakistan to slip up in their next matches.<\/p>\n<p>Whether or not it makes it to the semi-finals, Afghanistan\u2019s performance has marked an extraordinary improvement on the previous 2019 World Cup, when it lost all nine of its matches. With this year\u2019s tournament helping showcase a new generation of players, fans hope the nation can keep its newfound place in cricket\u2019s upper echelons.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEven if this time we don\u2019t get what we want, next time we\u2019ll try for the mega-title,\u201d said Umar, adding he believed the team was getting stronger. \u201cThey\u2019ll fight to the end.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Read the full article <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/51c37e7c-6d09-4d22-94b6-f56649ba668d\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Unlock the Editor\u2019s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Afghanistan\u2019s cricket&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-11458","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-business"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Crisis-hit Afghanistan celebrates surprise Cricket World Cup success | inFundPros<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Unlock the Editor\u2019s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Afghanistan\u2019s cricket team have\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/?p=11458\" \/>\n<meta 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