1 00:00:01,360 --> 00:00:05,080 From India's largest newsroom, I'm Arun George and this is the 2 00:00:05,080 --> 00:00:20,040 Times of India podcast. Everybody here is on their feet 3 00:00:20,040 --> 00:00:28,760 and that is naked Ben Maxwell. Unbelievable. 4 00:00:29,120 --> 00:00:32,280 The most remarkable thing you'll probably ever see in cricket. 5 00:00:35,000 --> 00:00:35,880 Staggering. Absolutely. 6 00:00:38,360 --> 00:00:42,000 And he should not have to walk off the park. 7 00:00:42,040 --> 00:00:45,440 He should. Be Yes, that performance by 8 00:00:45,440 --> 00:00:48,600 Glenn Maxwell was the best ever played in a One Day 9 00:00:48,600 --> 00:00:51,440 International. But let's not forget that before 10 00:00:51,440 --> 00:00:54,560 he kicked off that inning, Australia was struggling against 11 00:00:54,560 --> 00:00:56,960 one of the most notable teams in this World Cup. 12 00:00:57,240 --> 00:01:00,880 It's a squad that includes Rashid Khan, Ramanullah Gurbaz, 13 00:01:01,080 --> 00:01:04,879 Ibrahim Zadran, Hashmatullah Shahidi and Asmathullah Omar 14 00:01:04,879 --> 00:01:07,160 Zai. If the 1992 World Cup was all 15 00:01:07,160 --> 00:01:10,560 about South Africa, this World Cup is all about Afghanistan. 16 00:01:11,040 --> 00:01:13,680 The team from a country reeling from an earthquake and mass 17 00:01:13,680 --> 00:01:17,000 migrations from Pakistan at the time of this recording are 18 00:01:17,000 --> 00:01:19,520 technically just to win away from qualifying for the 19 00:01:19,520 --> 00:01:22,360 semifinals. Unfortunately, out of the three 20 00:01:22,360 --> 00:01:24,880 teams in that race, they have the lowest chances of 21 00:01:24,880 --> 00:01:27,320 qualifying. That's a shame for the team that 22 00:01:27,320 --> 00:01:30,840 beat world champions England, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and the 23 00:01:30,840 --> 00:01:33,360 Netherlands. In fact, if it hadn't been for a 24 00:01:33,360 --> 00:01:36,720 man named Glenn Maxwell and an initial loss to Bangladesh in 25 00:01:36,720 --> 00:01:39,640 the tournament, they had a very good chance of making it to the 26 00:01:39,640 --> 00:01:42,280 semifinals. But what explains A-Team from 27 00:01:42,280 --> 00:01:44,880 one of the poorest countries in the world punching well above 28 00:01:44,880 --> 00:01:48,160 their weight in world cricket? To understand that, my colleague 29 00:01:48,160 --> 00:01:51,160 Pinaki Chakraborty spoke with Washington based journalist and 30 00:01:51,160 --> 00:01:54,000 author Jafar Hahn who has been writing about Afghan cricket 31 00:01:54,000 --> 00:01:55,760 since it began playing Afghan cricket. 32 00:01:56,280 --> 00:01:59,680 Jafar's book titled 3 Century Cricket History in the World in 33 00:01:59,680 --> 00:02:02,360 Afghanistan is one of the best books to read if you want an 34 00:02:02,360 --> 00:02:06,160 insight on cricket in a country where the sport is not just a 35 00:02:06,160 --> 00:02:09,440 game in today's episode. Jafar talks with Pinaki about 36 00:02:09,440 --> 00:02:12,040 the rise of cricket in Afghanistan, how the Taliban 37 00:02:12,040 --> 00:02:14,560 view cricket and the biggest takeaways from the tournament. 38 00:02:15,120 --> 00:02:17,720 The interview was recorded, incidentally, just before 39 00:02:17,720 --> 00:02:21,080 Australia beat Afghanistan and cemented their place in the semi 40 00:02:21,080 --> 00:02:23,680 finals. Jafar says that when Afghanistan 41 00:02:23,680 --> 00:02:26,160 joined the International Cricket Council, there was no cricket 42 00:02:26,160 --> 00:02:28,120 ground or any other infrastructure in the country. 43 00:02:28,440 --> 00:02:30,360 So the first generation of cricketers were those who 44 00:02:30,360 --> 00:02:32,960 learned to play in refugee camps in Pakistan. 45 00:02:34,200 --> 00:02:37,640 Those who learn cricket in the Fuji camps in camp to 46 00:02:37,640 --> 00:02:39,680 Afghanistan to play for Afghanistan. 47 00:02:39,680 --> 00:02:43,080 So in my book History of Cricketing, I categorize like 48 00:02:43,080 --> 00:02:46,440 Afghan players into two generation, the first generation 49 00:02:46,440 --> 00:02:49,200 and the second generation. So the first generation like, 50 00:02:49,280 --> 00:02:52,400 they struggled very hard, they worked very hard and they 51 00:02:52,400 --> 00:02:55,600 believed in themselves and they had like self-confidence. 52 00:02:56,720 --> 00:02:59,840 At the time, the 2001 World Trade Center attacks hadn't 53 00:02:59,840 --> 00:03:02,320 taken place and the Taliban was still in power. 54 00:03:02,760 --> 00:03:05,320 Jaffar says the Taliban didn't raise too many objections to the 55 00:03:05,320 --> 00:03:08,360 rise of cricket because many of them were fans of the game 56 00:03:08,360 --> 00:03:10,960 themselves. Jaffar says that given the 57 00:03:10,960 --> 00:03:14,480 limitations they had, the first Afghan team had little beyond 58 00:03:14,680 --> 00:03:18,960 dreams of making it big. Most of Taliban, they used to 59 00:03:18,960 --> 00:03:21,680 live in Pakistan and they know how to play cricket. 60 00:03:21,680 --> 00:03:24,840 They have been watching India and Bangladesh, Zealand, 61 00:03:25,360 --> 00:03:28,200 Pakistan playing cricket. They love cricket. 62 00:03:28,200 --> 00:03:30,280 They are not against the game of cricket. 63 00:03:30,640 --> 00:03:33,680 So during the first term of Taliban, this Taliban didn't 64 00:03:33,680 --> 00:03:35,840 believe that Afghanistan will reach this level. 65 00:03:36,280 --> 00:03:40,240 They say, OK, a few people are here and they're just trying to 66 00:03:40,240 --> 00:03:42,800 play a game of cricket. So let them play a lot. 67 00:03:42,800 --> 00:03:46,760 At Murray, he was determined that he could bring 68 00:03:47,040 --> 00:03:48,880 international cricket to Afghanistan. 69 00:03:49,080 --> 00:03:53,040 He told me, like when he started Kirkland in Afghanistan, that 70 00:03:53,200 --> 00:03:57,920 people in Kabul, they didn't know what is cricket and they 71 00:03:57,920 --> 00:04:01,600 thought this is Pakistani game and these people, these 72 00:04:01,600 --> 00:04:04,720 refugees, they are bringing a Pakistani game to Afghan land. 73 00:04:05,240 --> 00:04:08,480 And there were a strong oppositions towards them, but 74 00:04:08,480 --> 00:04:11,000 they were determined and they started cricket. 75 00:04:11,240 --> 00:04:15,040 At that time Afghanistan didn't have like even a small ground 76 00:04:15,040 --> 00:04:18,720 off cricket and they were playing on the streets like in 77 00:04:18,720 --> 00:04:22,720 some ground off schools. And there were only one ground 78 00:04:22,960 --> 00:04:26,560 in Kabul, in a place we call it Wazir Akbar Khan. 79 00:04:26,880 --> 00:04:32,040 Near British embassy and these players, the first generation 80 00:04:32,040 --> 00:04:35,920 Aladdin Nuri and his teammates, they were playing in Wazir Akbar 81 00:04:36,000 --> 00:04:38,280 Khan. They started from there but they 82 00:04:38,280 --> 00:04:41,640 believe that they will make it happen like it in that you you 83 00:04:41,640 --> 00:04:44,640 can see now. There are international stars 84 00:04:44,640 --> 00:04:47,080 now. But things changed considerably 85 00:04:47,080 --> 00:04:50,440 in Afghanistan after 2000. After the formation of AUS 86 00:04:50,440 --> 00:04:53,000 backed Republic. The Taliban seized power again 87 00:04:53,000 --> 00:04:55,680 in 2021. The Afghan team presently plays 88 00:04:55,680 --> 00:04:58,400 under a flag that is not recognized by the Taliban 89 00:04:58,400 --> 00:05:00,680 anymore. The Taliban are against various 90 00:05:00,680 --> 00:05:03,000 forms of arts and culture. But cricket? 91 00:05:03,240 --> 00:05:07,080 Well, cricket gets a free pass. Jaffer tells Pinaki that all the 92 00:05:07,080 --> 00:05:09,640 players in the Afghan team presently have family in 93 00:05:09,640 --> 00:05:11,680 Afghanistan. He also says that over the 94 00:05:11,680 --> 00:05:15,040 years, many Afghan cricketers have had to oblige fans from the 95 00:05:15,040 --> 00:05:19,280 ranks of the Taliban. One category of players, they 96 00:05:19,280 --> 00:05:22,200 don't live in Afghanistan because they are very busy 97 00:05:22,200 --> 00:05:25,840 playing franchise, for example Rashid Gurbas, Mujib. 98 00:05:25,840 --> 00:05:30,120 So they live in Dubai and when they finish with IPL they go to 99 00:05:30,120 --> 00:05:31,800 Big Bash. When they finish with Big Bash, 100 00:05:31,840 --> 00:05:35,160 they go to Vitality Blast. When they finish with Vitality 101 00:05:35,160 --> 00:05:38,440 Blast they go to PSL. So they are very busy but they 102 00:05:38,440 --> 00:05:41,480 have family back home. So when I talked to them, they 103 00:05:41,480 --> 00:05:44,640 said like we have no problem with the current government or 104 00:05:44,640 --> 00:05:47,440 with the current situation plus it one of the Afghan. 105 00:05:47,520 --> 00:05:50,880 And players told me like that this is a tradition in 106 00:05:50,880 --> 00:05:53,320 Afghanistan. During the eat people are going 107 00:05:53,320 --> 00:05:56,560 to each other home and having some tea and discussion. 108 00:05:56,560 --> 00:06:01,280 And he said, like I had dozens of Taliban, they were visiting 109 00:06:01,280 --> 00:06:04,160 me and they were feeling selfie with me and just come to see me, 110 00:06:04,560 --> 00:06:06,200 nothing else. And they will say like you, 111 00:06:06,200 --> 00:06:09,280 player doing really good, be proud of you, keep it up and 112 00:06:09,280 --> 00:06:12,280 that, this and that, even during the Republic. 113 00:06:12,720 --> 00:06:16,280 I remember once I was writing an article about Afghanistan Turkic 114 00:06:16,360 --> 00:06:19,640 and I contacted as a journalist we could contact Taliban 115 00:06:19,640 --> 00:06:22,200 fighters. At that time I contacted Taliban 116 00:06:22,720 --> 00:06:25,680 spokesperson the Behala Mujahid and I asked him, hey, I have a 117 00:06:25,680 --> 00:06:29,360 question about this Kirk and he said we are in war but we have 118 00:06:29,360 --> 00:06:32,880 no problem with Kirkuk. So even during the war they were 119 00:06:32,880 --> 00:06:35,440 supporting the Afghan Kirku team. 120 00:06:35,800 --> 00:06:39,520 In my book I mentioned another story from Karim Khan Sadiq. 121 00:06:39,960 --> 00:06:43,360 During the three days of ceasefire, I think it was in 122 00:06:43,360 --> 00:06:47,680 2019, it was during the war between the Taliban and the 123 00:06:48,040 --> 00:06:51,160 Afghanistan government and there was a three days ceasefire, 124 00:06:51,400 --> 00:06:54,680 Karim Sadiq told me. Like he went to the area under 125 00:06:54,680 --> 00:06:57,000 the Taliban. One of like, the Taliban 126 00:06:57,000 --> 00:07:02,400 fighters come and started firing, celebrating the arrival 127 00:07:02,400 --> 00:07:05,120 of Karim Sadiq, he said. Like, oh, I'm big fan of you. 128 00:07:05,640 --> 00:07:09,680 I I'm really happy to see you. There is love for Kirkuk among 129 00:07:09,680 --> 00:07:12,720 Taliban, especially the young generation of Taliban. 130 00:07:12,800 --> 00:07:14,560 I don't think there have been a problem with the with the 131 00:07:14,560 --> 00:07:17,040 Kirkuk. We interviewed the chairman of 132 00:07:17,040 --> 00:07:20,440 Afghanistan Kirkuk, Burmidos Ashraf, He said like we we have 133 00:07:20,720 --> 00:07:25,720 the Taliban government support. They are not interfering in our 134 00:07:25,760 --> 00:07:28,280 affairs. They are just telling us like 135 00:07:28,520 --> 00:07:32,000 you guys are doing great job in Tibetop and if you think we can 136 00:07:32,040 --> 00:07:36,280 be of any help just let us know. Where does the team function out 137 00:07:36,320 --> 00:07:38,080 of? Does it function out of Kabul or 138 00:07:38,080 --> 00:07:41,600 Dubai? No different like the player who 139 00:07:41,600 --> 00:07:45,760 are based in Afghanistan, they function in in Afghanistan and 140 00:07:45,760 --> 00:07:48,680 the chairman and other high-ranking officials of the 141 00:07:48,680 --> 00:07:51,920 ECB who based in Kabul, they are functioning peers. 142 00:07:52,120 --> 00:07:54,320 They have a home grown in in UAE. 143 00:07:54,680 --> 00:07:58,160 So far they are international matches, They go to UAE, but 144 00:07:58,160 --> 00:08:01,760 they are bases in Kabul and they have an international ground in 145 00:08:01,760 --> 00:08:04,560 Kabul, Kabul ground. They do their practice station, 146 00:08:04,560 --> 00:08:07,640 they do their warm up matches, they do the everything in Kabul, 147 00:08:07,640 --> 00:08:09,680 Afghanistan and other provinces too. 148 00:08:10,680 --> 00:08:13,640 In a country where thousands depend on Eid, Jaffer says the 149 00:08:13,640 --> 00:08:16,360 Taliban don't want to mess with the sport that seems to have 150 00:08:16,360 --> 00:08:18,560 support that goes beyond all other boundaries. 151 00:08:19,960 --> 00:08:23,440 Afghanistan Kirkland Board is not like a part of the Taliban 152 00:08:23,440 --> 00:08:27,280 government. People who are heading the board 153 00:08:27,320 --> 00:08:31,760 are not Taliban like Chairman of Afghanistan Kirkland Board is 154 00:08:31,760 --> 00:08:35,559 the former Kirkland Player of Afghanistan National Team and 155 00:08:35,720 --> 00:08:39,720 their coaches are not Taliban. The important thing is Kirkland 156 00:08:39,720 --> 00:08:43,640 in Afghanistan doesn't belong to any political party. 157 00:08:44,120 --> 00:08:47,000 It doesn't belong to Taliban. It doesn't belong to. 158 00:08:47,440 --> 00:08:52,040 The former government but yes it does belong to anyone, to any 159 00:08:52,040 --> 00:08:55,160 Afghan. Either it is Talib or non Talib 160 00:08:55,160 --> 00:08:59,080 or any kind of Afghan. The Taliban and other political 161 00:08:59,080 --> 00:09:02,320 parties know that if they get involved in Turkic, there will 162 00:09:02,320 --> 00:09:06,200 be some strong decision by the International Turkic Council and 163 00:09:06,200 --> 00:09:09,160 by the neighboring countries like India, Pakistan and other 164 00:09:09,160 --> 00:09:10,800 countries. They know that. 165 00:09:11,480 --> 00:09:14,240 How has cricket managed to enrich the differences between 166 00:09:14,240 --> 00:09:17,760 the various tribes? And the people in Afghanistan. 167 00:09:18,400 --> 00:09:23,920 Well, Kirkland is the only port in Afghanistan that like you can 168 00:09:23,920 --> 00:09:27,400 find in every province of Afghanistan. 169 00:09:27,520 --> 00:09:34,280 Afghanistan has 34 provinces and there are over 6000 registered 170 00:09:34,280 --> 00:09:39,160 Cricket Club with ACB and you can find Cricket Club in 171 00:09:39,160 --> 00:09:42,640 Panchsir in Iraq like neighboring Iran. 172 00:09:42,720 --> 00:09:46,280 So Iran is good in soccer, but they didn't don't have any. 173 00:09:46,400 --> 00:09:50,000 Any game of cricket. But cricket is being played in 174 00:09:50,000 --> 00:09:52,840 Hirad, in Mazar, even in Bamiyan. 175 00:09:53,080 --> 00:09:58,520 People in Afghanistan, they believe Afghanistan is doing 176 00:09:58,520 --> 00:10:03,360 very good in Kirkuk and Afghans has natural talent in Kirkuk 177 00:10:03,720 --> 00:10:08,520 like for example Mujibin Rashid. But Rashid has never trained in 178 00:10:08,520 --> 00:10:12,960 any professional cricket Academy to learn how to evolve. 179 00:10:12,960 --> 00:10:17,840 Google you can find. Hundreds of players like Rashid 180 00:10:17,840 --> 00:10:22,880 and like like Gurbas. So having this kind of talent in 181 00:10:22,880 --> 00:10:25,680 in your country of course if you want or not. 182 00:10:25,840 --> 00:10:29,400 So it helps you to promote or to develop. 183 00:10:29,600 --> 00:10:34,400 I was in in Australia last year for the the coverage of T220 184 00:10:34,400 --> 00:10:39,880 World Cup in Australia. There is a big Hazara community. 185 00:10:40,120 --> 00:10:45,080 Hazara is not. I have seen hundreds of Hazara 186 00:10:45,280 --> 00:10:47,960 were coming, cheering and supporting Afghanistan cricket 187 00:10:47,960 --> 00:10:51,560 team. I interviewed a very old Hazara 188 00:10:51,560 --> 00:10:55,800 Afghan and he told me, my son, I don't know what is cricket, but 189 00:10:55,800 --> 00:10:57,600 I'm here just to support Afghanistan. 190 00:10:57,800 --> 00:11:01,280 So cricket unites Afghanistan. Cricket is like playing a 191 00:11:01,280 --> 00:11:06,840 crucial role in unity and in giving hopes in Afghanistan. 192 00:11:07,320 --> 00:11:10,920 In Afghanistan, so we have different tribes, so they don't 193 00:11:10,920 --> 00:11:14,400 things like, oh, people from met tribe is not playing in this 194 00:11:14,400 --> 00:11:15,560 team. So this is not my team. 195 00:11:15,560 --> 00:11:19,280 No, it's not this case. They think this is Afghanistan 196 00:11:19,280 --> 00:11:22,680 team and they represent Afghanistan Afghan players. 197 00:11:22,880 --> 00:11:26,520 They respect every tribe and they have support of every tribe 198 00:11:26,520 --> 00:11:29,880 in Afghanistan. We have a good player from east 199 00:11:29,880 --> 00:11:33,160 part of Afghanistan and from South part of Afghanistan like 200 00:11:33,160 --> 00:11:35,760 Burbas and Ibrahim is from South part of Afghanistan to 201 00:11:35,880 --> 00:11:37,560 Afghanistan E part of Afghanistan. 202 00:11:37,800 --> 00:11:41,760 We have no players from Hira now, but maybe after this World 203 00:11:41,760 --> 00:11:45,280 Cup we will be having like good players from other provinces, 204 00:11:45,280 --> 00:11:49,560 from other tribes too. Jaffa recounts an incident that 205 00:11:49,560 --> 00:11:52,160 shows just how much people love the sport in the country. 206 00:11:52,400 --> 00:11:54,880 He says even during the World Cup, one would have never 207 00:11:54,880 --> 00:11:57,440 guessed that the footage emerging after the defeat of 208 00:11:57,440 --> 00:12:02,720 Pakistan was from Afghanistan. I remember there was a suicide 209 00:12:02,800 --> 00:12:05,800 attack during Ishpa Giza domestic cricket league. 210 00:12:06,000 --> 00:12:10,000 There was a match in Kabul. Ground in A suicide attack 211 00:12:10,000 --> 00:12:12,960 happened. And people didn't stop. 212 00:12:13,000 --> 00:12:16,000 They said like, no, we don't care about any suicide attack. 213 00:12:16,000 --> 00:12:19,320 We don't care about anything. We just want to go to watch 214 00:12:19,320 --> 00:12:22,040 Afghan players. We just want to go to enjoy our 215 00:12:22,040 --> 00:12:25,600 game. Cricket is the only hopes and 216 00:12:25,600 --> 00:12:28,840 the only thing that brings smiles on their faces. 217 00:12:29,160 --> 00:12:31,760 So it it is more than a game, more than cricket in 218 00:12:31,760 --> 00:12:34,760 Afghanistan, to be honest. Afghanistan just beat Pakistan 219 00:12:34,760 --> 00:12:37,680 in the World Cup. Afghanistan didn't sleep at that 220 00:12:37,680 --> 00:12:49,720 night and I received hundreds of widows from different parts of 221 00:12:49,720 --> 00:12:52,640 Afghanistan. People were dancing during the 222 00:12:52,640 --> 00:12:54,480 Taliban. They were dancing, they were 223 00:12:54,680 --> 00:12:57,880 playing music, they were chanting, they didn't sleep. 224 00:12:58,280 --> 00:13:01,520 If there is fighting or work or if. 225 00:13:01,880 --> 00:13:05,800 There is peace, so cricket will be on in Afghanistan and people 226 00:13:05,800 --> 00:13:07,640 will watch it and people will support it. 227 00:13:08,760 --> 00:13:11,400 Jaffa says this World Cup was expected to be better than 228 00:13:11,400 --> 00:13:14,400 previous ones for Afghanistan, given the experienced players 229 00:13:14,400 --> 00:13:17,280 that the team has, as well as the familiarity many players 230 00:13:17,280 --> 00:13:21,320 have with Indian conditions. But he says even die hard fans 231 00:13:21,320 --> 00:13:24,280 like him did not expect this much from the squad. 232 00:13:26,520 --> 00:13:29,080 A person who is following Afghanistan cricket like for 233 00:13:29,080 --> 00:13:31,800 almost 2 decades now. In writing about them I thought 234 00:13:31,800 --> 00:13:36,880 like Afghanistan maybe win two or three matches and Sri Lanka 235 00:13:36,880 --> 00:13:40,240 and Bangladesh were in my mind like so we can beat this in our 236 00:13:40,240 --> 00:13:44,600 Netherlands of course, but when they beat England it was it was 237 00:13:44,640 --> 00:13:48,400 breaking news to me. I'm not saying upset because I I 238 00:13:48,400 --> 00:13:51,680 don't like this this term to use for Afghanistan cricket now. 239 00:13:52,200 --> 00:13:55,040 And when they beat Pakistan, like, oh, I can say like, oh, 240 00:13:55,040 --> 00:13:59,000 now they can go farther. I can see a different Afghan 241 00:13:59,000 --> 00:14:01,800 Turkey team now. And this is a big history for 242 00:14:01,800 --> 00:14:04,320 Afghanistan. I can see this team has like 243 00:14:04,360 --> 00:14:11,160 strong unity and spirit and also desire to men and determination. 244 00:14:11,520 --> 00:14:13,600 A lot of things going on in Afghanistan. 245 00:14:13,640 --> 00:14:16,320 Earthquake hit Afghanistan really badly and people are 246 00:14:16,320 --> 00:14:20,600 really sad and also recently another wave of refugee like 247 00:14:20,680 --> 00:14:24,240 experts from Pakistan to Afghanistan and these things 248 00:14:24,240 --> 00:14:30,120 like motivated Afghan players who work hard to bring smiles on 249 00:14:30,120 --> 00:14:33,720 Afghan faces. Jaffa says the most pleasant 250 00:14:33,720 --> 00:14:36,280 surprise for him in this World Cup was the performance of the 251 00:14:36,280 --> 00:14:39,560 batters. Before the World Cup, everyone 252 00:14:39,560 --> 00:14:41,400 was talking about Afghanistan bonding. 253 00:14:41,560 --> 00:14:45,600 Of course, Afghanistan spin side is very strong, but after the 254 00:14:45,600 --> 00:14:49,520 World Cup, you can see like a very solid batting side. 255 00:14:49,800 --> 00:14:52,400 Hashmat, Rahmat, Ikramin, Adamat. 256 00:14:52,680 --> 00:14:56,480 So they changed the trend, they changed the face of Kirkit, they 257 00:14:56,480 --> 00:14:59,200 changed the Afghanistan Kirkit team in this World Cup. 258 00:15:00,440 --> 00:15:03,160 Jaffer says the success of international stars like Rashid 259 00:15:03,160 --> 00:15:05,920 Khan has resulted in creating a lot of support for the 260 00:15:05,920 --> 00:15:08,520 cricketing ecosystem in the country compared to when the 261 00:15:08,520 --> 00:15:10,200 first Afghan team started playing. 262 00:15:10,440 --> 00:15:14,000 Jaffer says this World Cup is going to herald a new chapter in 263 00:15:14,000 --> 00:15:17,880 the history of Afghan cricket. Even if Afghanistan plays 264 00:15:17,880 --> 00:15:24,000 semifinal, I can guarantee you we will be having like dozens of 265 00:15:24,320 --> 00:15:28,240 players like Rashid track Gurbas track Mujib in 5-10 years. 266 00:15:28,720 --> 00:15:31,240 These people are inspiring generation. 267 00:15:31,600 --> 00:15:35,920 If they play semi final or if they win the World Cup they can 268 00:15:35,920 --> 00:15:39,960 do it, they can do it. So there will be a game changer 269 00:15:40,480 --> 00:15:44,080 for Afghanistan forever. Then Afghanistan cricket will be 270 00:15:44,080 --> 00:15:47,840 not like the the one that we saw 5-10 years ago. 271 00:15:48,080 --> 00:15:52,480 This World Cup started just opened another chapter in 272 00:15:52,480 --> 00:16:00,040 Afghanistan cricket history. For the first time in a World 273 00:16:00,040 --> 00:16:06,280 Cup game they have won four matches so far and this is a new 274 00:16:06,280 --> 00:16:09,240 chapter for the Afghanistan capitan, for future of 275 00:16:09,240 --> 00:16:11,880 Afghanistan. Then I'm sure we will be having 276 00:16:12,560 --> 00:16:15,560 very, very talent player in 5-10 years in Afghanistan. 277 00:16:17,880 --> 00:16:21,320 Today's episode was produced by Jayaraj Singh and Anuja Singh. 278 00:16:21,600 --> 00:16:24,960 For a daily spotlight on people, ideas, and stories that matter, 279 00:16:25,200 --> 00:16:28,840 subscribe to us. We're available on TOI, Spotify, 280 00:16:29,120 --> 00:16:32,880 Apple, Google Podcasts, and all other platforms of your choice. 281 00:16:33,400 --> 00:16:38,120 For any new steps, e-mail us at TOI Podcast at Timesinternet dot 282 00:16:38,120 --> 00:16:38,440 in.