At a time when we keep hearing about frightening things in our country like bomb explosions, suicide attacks, militants’ clash with our security forces and even earthquakes, there is very less to cheer about. In such circumstances, any good news can work as an elixir for the morale of this nation that is in dire need of such optimistic news. In last few months, hopelessness and pessimism has emerged as our biggest enemy, which is forcing our youth to flee out of the country and is chopping down the hopes of those who are left behind. This hopelessness got its birth due to a number of factors like lawlessness, increasing influence of militants and Taliban in different parts of the country, soaring inflation and unemployment and others. However, the situation can only be tackled by good news and it was provided very recently by the victory of our cricket team against Zimbabwe. This series of five one-day internationals and two T20s was so eagerly followed, watched and celebrated by our entire nation that it allowed them to forget their miseries and hopelessness for a few days and filled them with energy and enthusiasm. Large numbers of our Afghans had gone to UAE to support their team in the ground and cherish their joys on the spot. Similarly, when our cricket team returned to Kabul, they were welcomed and greeted like heroes and thousands of people thronged around them. People showered their joys and respect to them in form of chants, flowers and sweets and taking pictures with them.
Although for the cricketing nations, the victory against Zimbabwe might not mean a lot but it was a historic moment in the cricket of our country that a non-test playing nation was able to knock down a test-playing nation in both one-day and T20 series. The recent win of our national cricket team against Zimbabwe not only surprised the cricketing pundits but it also paved the way for Afghan team to be included among the test playing nations. Afghan cricketers, the coach, team management and everyone involved deserves appreciation and gratefulness.
When Afghan team won the final ODI against Zimbabwe and were given the winning trophy, it was a night of jubilation and celebration for Afghanistan. Large numbers of youngsters came out to the streets, with national flags in their hands and dancing on the national songs. Last time, such jubilation was seen in 2013 when Afghan football team won the final of Asian Cup against India.
However, the joy of this occasion was slightly tarnished by intense firing in air. Although there has been no report of anyone being injured by this firing, however, it was criticized by many as not a proper act to be done by a civilized nation. One of national team players also gave a message on the media to avoid firing in air so that there should not be any unhappy incident.
Having a look at history, it is not difficult to understand why people were extraordinarily jubilant. These were the youngsters who were born in war and air filled with noise of shooting and bombing and from many decades, had seen nothing except war, bloodshed, and its resultant depression and fear. In all these years, they never had any such moment to enjoy and celebrate. In all these years, they had never received any good news and had never felt so much proud on being an Afghan. This occasion was special in a sense that it made them forget their worries for a while and get new energy to have hopes from the future of Afghanistan.
Like other nations of the world, we also have some divisions based on different ethnicities but this victory worked as an ointment to heal and finish all the rifts and divides present among the people. At that night, they were all together as Afghans. There was no discrimination of Tajik, Pashtun, Hazara, Uzbek or others. They were all waving with love and respect the flag of Afghanistan and shouting passionately ‘Long Live Afghanistan’ and ‘Long Live Afghan Team’. Even with such crowd and rush, there was no fight between the people and that night, no one was ready to get angry and it was absolutely dedicated for smiling and spreading this smile. In a sense, relations and unity between all the Afghans were strengthened and I hope that, there would be many such occasions in future which will wipe away our differences and disunity.
Afghanistan has always been regarded a country where there is fight, there is terrorism, there are bomb blasts and suicide attacks and there is general insecurity. In the international media, Afghanistan has always been portrayed as a country where there is instability and conflict. This image has become so permanent that it would take many years’ efforts before Afghanistan is known for peace, progress and stability. Our victory and its following celebrations gave a message to the people of world that a country is rising out of conflict and bloodshed and is slowly and gradually advancing towards peace and stability.
While the celebrations continued that night, a comment given on Facebook especially caught my interest and attention. It said, ‘Our politicians and so-called leaders, who have accumulated millions of dollars from this country, could never provide us with an occasion that could have lifted up the spirits of nation as whole while a bunch of players, who are happy in their limited income, showed performance that changed the mood and spirit of nation.’ On this great occasion as well, some of the so-called and pessimistic analysts once again tried to be wet blankets and came up with some stupid remarks. It was said that cricket is not the game of our country, it is played by a team in which some players are Pakistanis or the boys have learned this game in Pakistan, the present coach of our team is also a Pakistani cricketer and we need not to be so much happy on it. However, a number of wise members of our media silenced these stupid analysts. First of all, the coach of Afghan national cricket team, Inzamam-ul-Haq is Pakistani but every credit goes to him that after he was selected as the coach of our cricket team, our team has shown remarkable progress and has emerged as one of the most successful cricket teams in the world. We need to admire his hard work and sincerity with his job without considering his background or nationality. In the same way, even if these boys have learned cricket in Pakistan, they have brought smiles on the faces of all Afghans and has brought fame to the country.
It is needed that the efforts of players and the coach should be acknowledged and appreciated officially as they did the miraculous work that no politician or so-called leaders could have done.