Cricket in Afghanistan

Last updated

Cricket in Afghanistan
CountryAfghanistan
National team(s) Afghanistan
International competitions
The Afghanistan national cricket team at the 2010 ICC WCL Division One in Rotterdam, Netherlands Afghanistan national cricket team.jpg
The Afghanistan national cricket team at the 2010 ICC WCL Division One in Rotterdam, Netherlands

Cricket in Afghanistan is the most popular sport in the country, [1] which is represented internationally by the Afghanistan national cricket team. Afghanistan's border with the Test playing nation of Pakistan has helped the game to take root. Pakistan's former batsman Inzamam ul Haq has coached the Afghan national team in the past. Afghanistan became a full member of the International Cricket Council on 22 June 2017, enabling the national team to participate in official Test matches.

Contents

Afghanistan's playing season runs from May to September. There are 320 cricket clubs and 6 turf wickets in Afghanistan. [2] In February 2017 the International Cricket Council (ICC) awarded first-class status to Afghanistan's four-day domestic competition. [3] They also granted List A status to their existing Twenty20 domestic competition, as Afghanistan did not have a domestic 50-over tournament. [4] [5] In May 2017 however, the ICC recognised the 50-over Ghazi Amanullah Khan Regional One Day Tournament by granting it List A status. [6]

History

Cricket was first played in Afghanistan during the 19th century Anglo-Afghan Wars, with British troops reported to have played in Kabul in 1839. However, unlike many countries, no lasting cricket legacy was left by the British, and it would be more than a hundred years before cricket returned. [2]

In the 1990s, cricket became popular amongst Afghan refugees in Pakistan, and the Afghanistan Cricket Federation was formed there in 1995. They continued to play cricket on their return to their home country in late 2001. [2] Like all sports, cricket was originally banned by the Taliban, but it became an exception in 2000 and the Afghanistan Cricket Federation was elected as an affiliate member of the ICC the following year. [7]

The Afghanistan national cricket team's 21-run win over Namibia in Krugersdorp earned them official One Day International status in April 2009. The team qualified for the 2012 ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup.

Today cricket is one of the most popular sports in Afghanistan, and the Afghanistan team has made quick progress in the international world of cricket.

Governing Body

Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) is the official governing body of the sport of cricket in Afghanistan. Its current headquarters is in Kabul, Afghanistan. The Afghanistan Cricket Board is Afghanistan's representative at the International Cricket Council and was an associate member of ICC from June 2013 to 2017. Now it is one of the full members of ICC since 2017. It is also a member of the Asian Cricket Council.

Domestic Competitions

Afghanistan's domestic structure originally consisted of a 25-over Inter-Provincial Tournament, which had the participation of 22 provinces in the tournament. The aim of the tournament was to spread the game across the country and to generate a greater depth of talent for the national team to select from. The best players from the tournament were selected players for Afghanistan A and under-19 teams based on their performance and would be sent for training and coaching to Bangladesh.

The top two teams from the 12-team first round advanced to the next round. The top six from the tournament then contested a 50 over tournament in Kabul. The 50 over tournament in May 2010 was won by Kabul Province.

Starting in 2011, Afghanistan's domestic cricket structure has grown. The expanded Inter-Provincial Tournament was reorganized into a 50 over tournament and divided into a Challenge Cup section (the Etisalat ODN Challenge Cup [8] with 20 provincial teams) and an Elite Cup section (with 12 provincial teams; 4 of them qualifiers from the Challenge Cup section). [9] In addition to the Inter-Provincial cricket the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) has divided the provinces of Afghanistan in to 5 Cricket Regions to enable the better management of the game. The Regions are Amo in the north (centered on Balkh), Spin Ghar in the east (centered on Nangarhar), Band-e-Amir in the centre (centered on Kabul), Mis Ainak in the southeast (centered on Khost) and Boost in the west and southwest (centered on Kandahar). [10] The 5 regions in turn have representative teams which play in all traditional 3 formats of cricket.

In addition to an expansion of the inter-provincial tournament from 25-over matches to 50-over matches and the addition of the T-20 and multi-day formats, cricket in Afghanistan has now expanded across the provinces as well; 32 of the 34 provinces now have representative sides. [11] All provinces except Daykundi and Farah have a representative team, while the ACB recognizes Afghan Refugees [12] and Koochian (Nomads) as provincial teams. The three-day league competition was expanded into a four-day league in 2014-15. [11] [13]

The UAE-based telecommunications company, Etisalat is now one of the main sponsors of Afghanistan's cricket, including being then title sponsor in Afghanistan's division 2 inter-provincinal challenge cup and the Etisalat Sixes T20 Tournament.

Starting from the 2017 season, Afghanistan has a four-day first-class competition (Ahmad Shah Abdali 4-day Tournament), a 50-over List A competition (Ghazi Amanullah Khan Regional One Day Tournament) and a recognized Twenty20 league (Shpageeza Cricket League). [4] [5] [6] In 2019, an additional 3-day first-class event (Mirwais Nika Provincial 3-Day) [14] and a List A event (Afghanistan Provincial Challenge Cup) were launched for individual provinces to compete in. [15]

In March 2024, the ACB launched a new T20 cricket competition named Qosh Tepa National T20 Cup involving regional teams, with the first edition taking place in April 2024. [16]

Regional domestic teams

Provinces of Regional Cricket Teams in Afghanistan Amo (Navy) Band-e-Amir (Green) Boost (Orange) Kabul (blue) Mis Ainak (Brown) Speen Ghar (Grey) Afghanistan Domestic Cricket Teams Regions.svg
Provinces of Regional Cricket Teams in Afghanistan
Amo (Navy)
Band-e-Amir (Green)
Boost (Orange)
Kabul (blue)
Mis Ainak (Brown)
Speen Ghar (Grey)
A member of the Afghan Border Police plays cricket after the ground breaking ceremony for the Ghulam Mohammad Sports Complex in Kunar Province. Cricket in Kunar Province.jpg
A member of the Afghan Border Police plays cricket after the ground breaking ceremony for the Ghulam Mohammad Sports Complex in Kunar Province.

Stadiums

The Sherzai Cricket Stadium in Jalalabad is under construction as seen in this June 2011 image. Jalalabad stadium in June 2011.jpg
The Sherzai Cricket Stadium in Jalalabad is under construction as seen in this June 2011 image.

The Afghan national cricket team does not play its home matches inside Afghanistan due to the ongoing security situation and the lack of international standard facilities. Afghanistan played their 'home' Intercontinental Cup fixture against Ireland at the Rangiri Dambulla International Stadium in Sri Lanka. Following Afghanistan's World Twenty20 qualifying campaign they played two One Day Internationals against Canada at the Sharjah Cricket Association Stadium in the UAE, after which the stadium was named the 'home' ground of Afghanistan. [17]

Work on the Sherzai Cricket Stadium in Jalalabad, a city known in Afghanistan for being the 'capital of cricket', is in progress. Construction has also begun on the Kabul National Cricket Stadium and the Kandahar International Cricket Stadium in the south of the country. Archived 12 June 2013 at the Wayback Machine The President of the Afghanistan Cricket Board, Omar Zakhilwal, announced in October 2010 that the government was planning to construct standard cricket grounds in all 34 provinces in the next two years. [18]

In 2016, Shahid Vijay Singh Pathik Sports Complex in Greater Noida became the home ground for the Afghanistan national cricket team after they decided to shift their home ground from Sharjah. [19] [20] [21]

The following are the main cricket stadiums in Afghanistan:

These grounds have hosted matches involving Afghanistan:

National team

The Afghanistan national cricket team represents the country of Afghanistan in international cricket matches. The national team was formed in 2001, immediately after took part in Pakistan domestic circuit after being invited in 2001 . [2] which played in the 2009 World Cup Qualifier [22] after rising rapidly through the World Cricket League, starting in Division Five in May 2008. [23] They play in the Elite division of the ACC Trophy. [24]

Afghanistan's 21-run win over Namibia in Krugersdorp earned them official One Day International status. Afghanistan won their first One Day International against Scotland. In 2011, the team qualified for the 2012 ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup.

National Team Honours

Women's Team

The Afghanistan national women's cricket team is the team that represents the country of Afghanistan in international women's cricket matches. The team was formed in 2010, drawing on players mostly from Kabul. [25] Although the team is yet to play representative cricket, it had been scheduled to take part in the 2011 ACC Women’s Twenty20 in Kuwait, which ran from 17 – 25 February. The team was forced to withdraw from the tournament before travelling to Kuwait due to elements in Afghanistan opposing women's participation in sport [26]

Under-19 Cricket Team

Afghanistan national under-19 cricket team represents the country of Afghanistan in U-19 international cricket.

Afghanistan finished second in the 2009 Under-19 Cricket World Cup Qualifier which was held in Canada. The team gained victories over the under-19 teams of Sierra Leone, Hong Kong, Vanuatu, the United States, Uganda, the Netherlands, Papua New Guinea. The team lost just two matches to Ireland and Canada. Afghanistan have finished fourth in 2011 Under-19 Cricket World Cup Qualifier which gained them qualification to 2012 Under-19 Cricket World Cup.

The team played in the 2010 Under-19 Cricket World Cup in New Zealand. Afghanistan were drawn in Group A, where they played against England, Hong Kong and India.

Afghanistan played in the 2012 Under-19 Cricket World Cup. They played against Pakistan, New Zealand and Scotland.

Afghanistan had qualified for 2014 Under-19 Cricket World Cup. They were drawn against Australia, Bangladesh and Namibia in group B where they beat and qualified for Super league where they lost to South Africa. They finished tournament well by securing 7th position.

In October, 2014 Afghanistan Under-19 team toured neighboring country Pakistan for a three One Day matches series, which ended up in the favor of Afghanistan as 2-1.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Afghanistan national cricket team</span>

The Afghanistan men's national cricket team represents Afghanistan in international cricket. Cricket has been played in Afghanistan since the mid-19th century, but it was only in the early 21st century that the national team began to enjoy success. The Afghanistan Cricket Board was formed in 1995, becoming an affiliate member of the International Cricket Council (ICC) in 2001 and a member of the cricket confederation, Asian Cricket Council (ACC) in 2003. After nearly a decade of playing international cricket, on 22 June 2017 full ICC membership was granted to Afghanistan. Alongside Ireland, this took the number of Test cricket playing nations to twelve. Afghanistan is the first country to achieve Full Member status after holding Affiliate Membership of the ICC. In view of the persistent conflict and insecurity in Afghanistan, following this status, the team moved to a new home ground in Dehradun, in India. The current home ground of the Afghanistan Men's Cricket team is the Sharjah Cricket Stadium in the UAE.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Afghanistan Cricket Board</span> Governing body of cricket in Afghanistan

The Afghanistan Cricket Board is the official governing body of cricket in Afghanistan. It is Afghanistan's representative at the International Cricket Council (ICC) and was an associate member of ICC from June 2013 until becoming a full member in June 2017. Before that it was an affiliate member and has been a member of that body since 2001. It is also a member of the Asian Cricket Council.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Asghar Afghan</span> Afghan cricketer

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Shafiqullah Shafaq is an Afghan cricketer, who played for the Afghanistan national cricket team before being banned from cricket for corruption. He is a right-handed batsman who plays primarily as a wicketkeeper.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sport in Afghanistan</span> Overview of sports traditions and activities in Afghanistan

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shpageeza Cricket League</span> Cricket tournament

The Shpageeza Cricket League is a Twenty20 cricket tournament organized by the Afghanistan Cricket Board every year in Afghanistan. The Shpageeza tournament is established with eight franchises, including players from the national team, overseas, players from the ‘A’ team and players from the under 19 team as well as elite performers from the respective regions participating in this tournament. In addition, ACB has given the league an identity by franchising all team while players will be selected through a draft for each team.

Ihsanullah Khan Mangal is an Afghan cricketer who plays as a right-handed opening batsman. He made his first-class debut for Afghanistan against the Netherlands in the 2015–17 ICC Intercontinental Cup on 29 July 2016. Prior to his first-class debut, he captained the Afghanistan U-19 team in the 2016 Under-19 Cricket World Cup. He made his Test cricket debut in March 2019. Ihsanullah is the younger brother of former Afghanistan captain Nawroz Mangal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Boost Defenders</span>

Boost Defenders or Boost Region is one of eight regional first-class cricket teams in Afghanistan. The region represents the following provinces in the south and southwest of Afghanistan: Kandahar, Helmand, Nimroz, Uruzgan and Zabul. The team is named after Bōst, the historical name of Lashkargah city in Helmand Province.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mis Ainak Knights</span>

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The Ghazi Amanullah Khan Regional One Day Tournament is a cricket tournament organized by the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) that forms part of the Afghanistan domestic cricket season. Starting from the 2017 season, following announcements from the ICC earlier in the same year, the tournament is recognized with List A status. The first ever domestic List A matches played in Afghanistan took place at the start of the 2017 edition of the Ghazi Amanullah Khan Regional One Day Tournament on 10 August 2017 at Khost Cricket Stadium, Khost. It is named after Afghan King Amanullah Khan. The winner of the first tournament was Spin Ghar Region.

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Mujeeb Ur Rahman Zadran is an Afghan cricketer, who plays for the Afghanistan national cricket team. Two months after his international debut, at the age of 16 years and 325 days, he became the youngest player to take a five-wicket haul in a One Day International. He was one of the eleven cricketers to play in Afghanistan's first Test match, against India, in June 2018. Afghanistan lost the one-sided Test within two days. Mujeeb scored 15 and 3 in the two innings, respectively, and got one wicket after conceding 75 runs. It was also Mujeeb's first-class cricket debut. His uncle, Noor Ali Zadran, is also an Afghan international cricketer.

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Darwish Rasooli is an Afghan cricketer. He made his international debut for the Afghanistan cricket team in March 2022.

Qais Ahmad Kamawal is an Afghan cricketer. He made his Test debut for the Afghanistan cricket team in September 2019.

The 2019 Afghanistan Provincial Challenge Cup was a List A cricket competition that took place in Afghanistan between 31 July and 10 August 2019. It was the third year of domestic List A cricket to be played in Afghanistan, following the announcements by the International Cricket Council (ICC) in February and May 2017. Eight teams qualified for the tournament, and were divided into two groups of four.

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The Mirwais Nika 3-Day Tournament is the domestic first-class cricket competition in Afghanistan and is organised by the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB).It became an official title in 2019. The tournament is contested between teams from the six Region of Afghanistan, each representing a number of Afghan provinces.

References

  1. ↑ "Women's Cricket: Afghanistan's Secretive New Sport". Time. 4 June 2010. Archived from the original on 17 August 2013. Retrieved 9 September 2011.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Profile of Afghanistan". Asian Cricket Council . Retrieved 10 July 2014.
  3. ↑ "Big-Three rollback begins, BCCI opposes". ESPN Cricinfo. 4 February 2017. Retrieved 4 February 2017.
  4. 1 2 "Afghanistan domestic competitions awarded first-class and List A status". ESPN Cricinfo. 4 February 2017. Retrieved 4 February 2017.
  5. 1 2 "In Principle Agreement to Constitutional and Financial Changes to ICC". International Cricket Council. 4 February 2017. Retrieved 6 February 2017.
  6. 1 2 "ICC Recognizes Afghanistan's Domestic ODI Tournament As List A League". Bakhtar News. Retrieved 9 August 2017.
  7. ↑ Timeline of Afghanistan cricket Archived 21 September 2012 at the Wayback Machine at CricketEurope
  8. ↑ "Afghanistan Cricket Board – Etisalat ODN Challenge Cup 2013". Archived from the original on 27 September 2013. Retrieved 10 October 2013.
  9. ↑ "Afghanistan Cricket Board – Provincial ODN Challenge And Elite Cup 2011". Archived from the original on 27 September 2013. Retrieved 10 October 2013.
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Afghanistan Cricket Board – About Domestic Cricket". Archived from the original on 5 June 2016. Retrieved 10 October 2013.
  11. 1 2 Cricinfo Magazine – Where do Afghanistan go next?
  12. ↑ Domestic cricket: Teams Archived 6 November 2014 at the Wayback Machine , Afghanistan Cricket Board
  13. ↑ "Afghanistan Regional 4-Day Tournament 2014-15". ESPN Cricinfo . Retrieved 7 November 2014.
  14. ↑ "Provincial Three-day first class tournament to start in Nangarhar and Kunar". Afghanistan Cricket Board. Archived from the original on 14 February 2019. Retrieved 13 February 2019.
  15. ↑ "Provincial Grade-one Challenge Cup starts tomorrow". Afghanistan Cricket Board. Archived from the original on 1 August 2019. Retrieved 1 August 2019.
  16. ↑ "Afghanistan Cricket Board launches Qosh Tepa National T20 Cup". Amu TV. Retrieved 8 April 2024.
  17. ↑ Afghanistan has a new home ground, ACC
  18. ↑ Pajhwok Afghan News – All provinces to have cricket grounds: minister Archived 30 December 2013 at the Wayback Machine . 11 October 2010.
  19. ↑ "India to host Afghanistan home games". ESPNCricinfo. Retrieved 11 December 2015.
  20. ↑ "Soon a Noida home for Afghan cricketers". 2 December 2015. Retrieved 22 February 2016.
  21. ↑ "First-Class Matches played on Greater Noida Sports Complex Ground, Greater Noida (1)". CricketArchive. Retrieved 22 February 2016.
  22. ↑ Afghanistan and Uganda seal place in ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier Archived 8 December 2015 at the Wayback Machine , ICC Media Release, 31 January 2009
  23. ↑ WCL Division Five Official Site Archived 19 September 2012 at the Wayback Machine
  24. ↑ Profile of Afghanistan Archived 12 March 2009 at the Wayback Machine at the ACC website
  25. ↑ First women's cricket team for Afghanistan
  26. ↑ "Afghanistan's Pioneer Women". Asian Cricket Council. 15 August 2011.
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