The story of Afghanistan’s rise in cricket has been nothing short of a fairytale, but the real work will begin only after their debut in the World Cup, according to coach and former Pakistan skipper Rashid Latif.
Latif has been charged with helping the Afghans prepare for the tournament at a training camp in Karachi, a role he is reprising after leading the team to a silver in the 2010 Asian Games.
Afghanistan’s rapid ascent from the fifth division of world cricket in 2008 to qualifying for the 2015 showpiece event in Australia and New Zealand has been hailed as one of the sport’s biggest success stories.
The tale is made poignant by the country’s war-torn history. Many Afghans were first exposed to cricket in Pakistani refugee camps during the Soviet occupation in the 1980s.
Sport was largely stifled under the isolated Taliban regime that ruled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001, and cricket took off after they were overthrown.
But Latif warns the team need to stay focused on their long-term development in order to avoid the fate of other up-and-comers.
“I don’t want them to go down after ascending, like Kenya,” he said of the nation that reached the semi-finals of the 2003 World Cup but later fell away, losing their right to play one-day internationals.
He added the Afghans could prove to be formidable opponents against top teams “in the next five years”.
Latif said beating Bangladesh when they meet in their opening World Cup group match was a real prospect.
Afghanistan have featured in three World Twenty20 events since 2010, but qualifying for the more prestigious 50-over World Cup is their biggest sporting achievement to date.
The Sharjah qualifier in October came a month after victory over India in the South Asian Football Federation Cup last September, another high.
Regular coach Kabir Khan, an ethnic Pashtun who played four Tests and 10 one-dayers for Pakistan in the 1990s, said both achievements showed the country’s potential and success in one sport had a ripple effect.
“I will say that cricket is responsible for all this. If one sport is doing well the others follow.”
