Afghanistan qualify for ICC World T20 2010 in West Indies

Afghanistan win the ICC World T20 Qualifiers

Romance in sport is what drives the fans to the grounds. And makes them flick their television sets on more eagerly than any other time. A generation or two onwards, when the fans look back at cricket as we know it today, they would probably be savouring the emergence of a new powerhouse in the international cricket, Afghanistan!

For the time from when the Afghanistan team had won the Division Five title in ICC’s qualifiers for the World Cup of 2011, their story has been seeped in romance, grit, gumption, and to say the least, glory. They had narrowly missed out on qualifying for the World Cup 2011, but thanks to that performance, they had managed to qualify for the ICC World T20 Qualifiers which was played in Dubai recently.

There were ten teams in that tournament, and only two out of those were to qualify for the ICC World T20 in West Indies to be played in April this year. In the competition were the teams like Ireland, who have played in the World Cup before and qualified for the Super Eights in 2007, Netherlands, who have not only played in the World Cup, but also in the 2009 edition of the ICC World T20 and beaten England, Kenya, who have featured in the semi-finals of the 2003 edition of the World Cup and others like Canada, UAE and Scotland, all of whom have done their bit at the highest level.

So, while Afghanistan’s record before the tournament would have put them amongst the top four favourites, they were up against some fierce competition across the board.

And not only did they pass the examination, but they also aced them with wins over Ireland, Scotland, USA and UAE in the league stage. This ensured their place in the finals of the tournament, and more importantly, a slot in the ICC World T20 to be played in West Indies later this year. The cherry on the cake was then provided by Nowroz Mangal and Mohammad Shahzad, both of whom assisted the side in a facile win over the Irish in the finals of the tournament, to lift the trophy as well! In turn, this gave them a right to play India and South Africa in the World T20.

Ireland, on the other hand, had qualified for the finals after their first match loss to Afghanistan. They beat Scotland, USA, UAE and Netherlands, en route the finals, and had it not been for a rather arduous schedule, they would have probably done much better than they actually did.

Like all of the other teams, they played their first three league matches in three days, and qualifying for the Super Fours meant that they had to play their remaining two games off consecutive days as well. So, after featuring in five matches in as many days, they qualified for the finals, which was to be played on the same day as the final league game; ensuring back-to-back games for the Irish, in a span of a couple of hours!

The coach, Phil Simmons, a former West Indian all-rounder was obviously an unhappy man at the scheduling, but would have taken heart from the fact that they qualified for their second successive ICC World T20. Last year, they had played India and Bangladesh in the first round, and while they lost to the Indians, they had bundled Bangladesh out of the tournament and qualified for the second round. This time around, they face West Indies and England in the first round of the tournament.

I may be thinking far, but the romance that I was alluding to in sport may not be over. While expecting the Afghan side to beat India and South Africa may sound a bit far-fetched, they may give the two sides a run for their money. However, what could even be more probable is that Ireland could surprise either of West Indies or England in the first round to enter the second! That will be some day.