Afghanistan won their first match in World Cup yesterday when they defeated Scotland by a margin of a single wicket in a nail biting finish. The country erupted in sheer celebration on that note. Hundreds of jubilant Afghan Cricket fans flooded onto the streets of the major cities on Thursday, dancing, waving flags and firing AK-47s on account of celebration at their team’s historic and epic win over Scotland.
Afghanistan is playing their debutant World Cup this year and they were beaten by Bangladesh in their first match. They secured a brilliant victory right in the second game where they had beaten Scotland chasing down 211 runs with 3 balls to spare.
Afghanistan suffered a collapse in their batting though. They were poised at the score of 82 runs for the loss of 2 wickets at one stage but they went onto lose 5 wickets in quick succession and were down at 97 runs for the loss of 7 wickets at one point. It was then Samiullah Shenwari who anchored the innings and built small partnerships with the tailenders to seal victory for Afghanistan.
In Kandahar, the southern city which was once famous as the Taliban heartland and now a bastion of cricket, ecstatic and excited fans danced in the streets and fired off their weapons. This is a gesture of celebration in Afghanistan.
Abdul Samad told that after Afghanistan lost their seventh wicket, he smashed his phone in anger. Now their team has won and it is quite unbelievable.
Another fan, Khalil Ahmad, said he feared the worst as the team’s batsmen crumbled. He said that he was watching the match from the very first ball when Afghanistan lost the seven wickets, he was disappointed. He thought that it was over and switched off the television.
There was more dancing and celebratory gunfire in the eastern city of Jalalabad, where university student Mirwais Rahman gave his classmates an unexpected surprise.
Just after the victory, President Ashraf Ghani issued a statement which extended congratulations to the Afghan Cricketers and also urged them to carry on with their exploits in the very next game.