Sharjah match makes Taliban pro-cricket

Sharjah: The Pakistan-Afghanistan match at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Friday created such a huge impact that it won the support of even the Taliban group that once hated cricket.

Omar Zakhilwal, Chairman of the Afghanistan Cricket Board who had come to watch the historic match, said: "This match has become a huge milestone for Afghanistan. Just before the start of the match the Taliban sent a message of support saying that they are praying for the success of the team."

When Afghanistan was under Taliban rule, all outdoor sports were banned. However, cricket took its root immediately after the removal of the Taliban and ever since then, the men from the war-ravaged country proved to be quite a revelation.

Zakhilwal also revealed that even their country's president was following the Sharjah game. "[Hamid] Karzai was also watching the match and he even called us during the match. He is already happy with the team's performance," said Zakhilwal, who believes that top teams are shying away from playing against them.

"We are pushing the top teams but they shy away from playing us. I feel that one of the reasons could be that for the big teams winning against Afghanistan may not be huge but losing against us would be big for them. We have broken the ice by playing against Pakistan and the team has shown maturity and strength.

"The International Cricket Council [ICC] and the Asian Cricket Council [ACC] should also play their part by helping us get more chances against top teams. We are pushing India, Australia, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka and with this kind of performance and audience there is no reason why these teams cannot play us," Zakhilwal said.

He added that almost 90 per cent of the children in his country would have watched the Sharjah match.

"No other game is played on the streets other than cricket. It is one sport that mobilises the people over and above politics. If teams do not want to come to Kabul to play us we are ready to play even in Sharjah. We now have two international grounds, in Jalalabad and Kabul."