Twenty20 tournament adds glamour to Afghan cricket
‘A league of our own’
SHARJAH, United Arab Emirates, Oct 18, (AFP): Afghanistan defied decades of conflict to join cricket’s elite club of Test nations, but now they have added a dash of glamour with their inaugural Twenty20 league in the United Arab Emirates.
Ten years after India’s IPL changed the face of cricket with music, fireworks and cheerleaders, the Afghanistan Premier League has joined the growing list of T20 tournaments worldwide.
The pyrotechnics weren’t long coming, as 20-year-old Hazratullah Zazai’s extraordinary six sixes in one over, part of a record-equalling 12-ball half-century, immediately drew attention from around the globe.
“It’s a very proud moment for the entire nation to have a league of our own which gives our players chance to showcase their talent and rub the shoulders with some foreign stars,” Afghanistan Cricket Board chief executive Shafiq Stanikzai told AFP.
Despite its turbulent history, with most players learning cricket in refugee camps in Pakistan, Afghanistan rose to become one of only 12 Test nations earlier this year.
Stanikzai knows the dangers of Afghan cricket more than most: his playing career was flourishing until it was cut short by a Taleban bullet in his right shoulder.
In September last year, a suicide attack outside Kabul’s main cricket stadium left three people dead, while eight were killed and several injured in an attack at a cricket match in Jalalabad.
Such conditions made it impossible to hold the APL in Afghanistan, but Stanikzai said: “I am sure this league, like in other countries, will further lift standards of our players and our overall cricket.”
He added: “There were challenges aplenty, they still exist but we have overcome those, received tremendous support from our government, the people of Afghanistan and from the International Cricket Council.”
West Indies big-hitter Chris Gayle and India’s Yuvraj Singh are among the headliners, along with New Zealand’s Brendon McCullum and Shahid Afridi of Pakistan.
But the APL also provides a stage for Afghanistan’s own stars including Rashid Khan, teenage spinner Mujeeb Ur Rahman and all-rounder Mohammad Nabi, who all featured in this year’s IPL.