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2/26/2015 Devashish Fuloria: Mighty Afghans find their voice | Cricket | ESPN Cricinfo
http://www.espncricinfo.com/icc-cricket-world-cup-2015/content/story/839585.html 1/8
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Afghanistan v Scotland, World Cup 2015, Group A, Dunedin February 26, 2015
Mighty Afghans find their
voice
As their side stumbled towards victory, Afghanistan's fanshelped provide the final impetus and turned Dunedin into acorner of Kandahar
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DEVASHISH FULORIA IN
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"Everywhere we go-o
People want to know-o
Who we are, where we come from
So we tell them, we are the Afghans
Afghanistan raised their World Cup flag with victory in Dunedin © AFP
2/26/2015 Devashish Fuloria: Mighty Afghans find their voice | Cricket | ESPN Cricinfo
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Mighty, mighty Afghans"
The handful of Afghanistan supporters who had
travelled from around New Zealand - a couple from
Australia, too - had turned one corner of the
University Oval into Kandahar. Most of them now
settled in the southern hemisphere once lived around
the historical city. One among them left Kandahar in
2000 and moved temporarily to Peshawar, in
Pakistan, before finally establishing a base in New
Zealand. That was before cricket had taken over as
Afghanistan's No. 1 sport from boxing, wrestling and
buzkashi.
He had flown down along with his wife and two
daughters from Auckland to watch the two Dunedin
games. The group around him were all friends and
family, dressed in their best kurtas and embroidered
vests, complete with matching pakols on their heads,
speaking in Pashto and English together, waving two
big flags and delivering their own version of the chant
from Remember the Titans to ensure their players
did not feel alone.
The first time the chant went up was in the 33rd over
of Scotland's innings when Hamid Hassan, standing at
mid-off dived forward to pluck up a low chance off
Shapoor Zadran's bowling. Hassan had been signing
autographs for the group only a while ago and was
quick to respond with a wave. The group, on its feet
now, kept repeating the chant knowing they were
being heard. It grew louder as Dawlat Zadran struck
four overs later and directed his celebration towards
the supporters. But it was the last time in a while that
the chant was heard as Scotland's lower order
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Moin Khan to
return home
3Highest WC
score, fastest
double-ton,
record sixes
4Letter to de
Villiers
5Wilson, K
O'Brien seal
tense win
frustrated Afghanistan to stretch the total to 210.
Many things can hurt a newcomer in a big
tournament like this. It could be swing, bounce, the
wind chill, the quality of the opposition, or just being
in a foreign country. Afghanistan had a good start to
the tournament in Canberra before Bangladesh
fought back strongly; they were much closer against
Sri Lanka in Dunedin three days ago only to see
Mahela Jayawardene and Thisara Perera shut doors
on them.
But today was Afghanistan's big day. They believed
it. And, as they opted to bowl, their fans believed it
too.
On the eve of this match, Afghanistan batsman Javed
Ahmadi had said people back home wanted to see
them beat a Full Member but mid-way through the
second innings it appeared that, in aiming for bigger
targets, they had taken lightly an opposition not
dissimilar to them.
Following a slump from 85 for 2 to 97 for 7, 114 away
from a win, things turned rather bleak, enough to
send their supporters into despair. They hadn't seen
this coming. They didn't want to see what was
coming. For the next few overs, the quiet in that little
corner was making its presence felt. It probably
helped the two batsmen in the middle. Passion can
drive adrenaline, which was exactly what was not
needed.
Samiullah Shenwari and Dawlat took the approach
that had helped Scotland's lower order survive -
prevent any further damage. Only 10 runs came as
404shares
2/26/2015 Devashish Fuloria: Mighty Afghans find their voice | Cricket | ESPN Cricinfo
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they blocked the next six overs, biding time in hope
that there would be a release somewhere. So did
their fans. They quietly saw the match unfold, felt
Shenwari's agony when Dawlat played an absurd shot
to be dismissed, probably expected the worst at that
stage but, throughout, the two big Afghanistan flags
stayed up, fluttering in the chilly breeze.
The clouds of despair only showed signs of lifting
when Shenwari smashed a six and a four of
consecutive deliveries in the 39th over. The six was
Shenwari's first, the four a confirmation of a signal
that the chase was on. That sign was read on the
grass banks as a call for back-up. Shenwari was going
to take control but he needed support. And so they
screamed again, "Mighty, mighty Afghans", for the
only the third time in the day. The neutral
supporters had come in with the promise of being
Scotland's back-up but they didn't really care to take
sides; they were just loving the fight.
2/26/2015 Devashish Fuloria: Mighty Afghans find their voice | Cricket | ESPN Cricinfo
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Devashish Fuloria is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo
© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
Shenwari would go on to hit three sixes in the 47th
over, the third one landing just in front of the Afghan
group. He was dismissed in the same over but then
the back-up troops took over. They were up and
running every single with their last pair. As Shapoor
ran towards midwicket after hitting the winning runs,
they ran towards him; as he knelt down with his
arms outstretched, they were facing him with theirs
open. With some 20 yards between them, they were
all in one embrace.
"When we see the crowd, we get more happy, and we
feel that we have more company," Shenwari said
after the match. "When we get a wicket, or a
boundary, we get a shout, so we feel so good."
As the rest trickled away, the Afghan supporters
walked right by the dressing room to get closer to
their players, chanting "Mighty Afghans" followed by
"Afghanistan Zindabad". The slick ground DJ, never
to miss a trick, was quick to switch to Afghan tunes,
transforming this lush corner of the world
temporarily to Kandahar once again.
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Shapoor Zadran headed towards Afghanistan's supporters after completing victory ©
AFP
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