Afghans celebrate their cricket team reaching the first semi-finals of the Twenty20 World Cup

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) Thousands of Afghans took to the streets to celebrate their national cricket team reaching the semifinals of the Twenty20 World Cup for the first time on Tuesday.

Afghanistan defeated Bangladesh by eight nail-biting runs in St. Lucia in the Caribbean to qualify for 2021 champions Australia.

Big screens in several cities attracted large crowds, even though the match started at 5 a.m. Kabul time.

I can't find words to explain my happiness right now. It is a huge victory for all Afghans, said Shah Mohammad, 42, from Kabul. We are so proud of our national team. They created such a happy moment for us and now we are optimistic that the team will reach the finals.

In the semi-finals, Afghanistan will take on undefeated South Africa on Wednesday evening (Thursday morning for Afghans) in Tarouba, Trinidad. India will play defending champions England in the other semi-final.

All (eyes) on the next one!!, Afghan captain Rashid Khan placed on X. This is for every (Afghanistan) fan who believed in us and kept us going.

Khan was congratulated in a video call by Taliban acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi after the match.

Former President Hamid Karzai also cheered on the team and the country. I offer my sincere congratulations to all compatriots, especially the players of the national cricket team, and wish them much success, Karzai wrote on X.

The Afghanistan Cricket Board showed photos of the jubilant cricketers, including Khan and Gulbadin Naib, hugging each other after the team defended a slightly revised total of 114 runs against Bangladesh.

This VICTORY means everything to us!, wrote the ACB on X. Congratulations to the entire nation.

Afghan cricket fans in several countries celebrated the historic achievement by posting videos of themselves performing the national dance known as Attan.

Afghanistan's performance is a mild surprise. It was built towards. It reached the second round of the last three T20 World Cups. This time it eliminated New Zealand in the group stage and defeated former champions Australia for the first time last weekend.

Three of the top five wicket-takers in the tournament are from Afghanistan. Fast bowler Fazalhaq Farooqi has a lead of 16. Khan, who took a match-winning four-wicket haul against Bangladesh, has 14. Fast bowler Naveen-ul-Haq has 13.

The opening pair of Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran have stitched together three-century partnerships and are among the top three leading run-scorers in the tournament with 281 and 229 respectively.

Rashid, who was carried on the shoulders of his teammates during a victory lap in St. Lucia, believed their achievements would inspire Afghanistan's youth.

However, these young people do not include girls. As phenomenal as the men's success is, it stands in stark contrast to the fate of the women's national team, which was dropped as soon as the Taliban seized power in 2021 after the United States and NATO forces withdrew after two decades of war withdrawn.

The Taliban have used their interpretation of Islamic law to ban girls as young as 11 from education, bar women from public spaces and exclude them from many jobs.

The International Cricket Council has helped Afghanistan's men develop but has not punished them for not offering women's cricket.

The ICC's position has come into sharper focus as Afghanistan has become more successful.

I think the semi-final will be a huge, huge inspiration for the young people back home in Afghanistan, Rashid said. We've done it at under-19 level (two World Cup semi-finals), but we haven't done that at this level. Even Super Eight was our first time and then in the semi-finals. It's an incredible feeling.

___

AP cricket: https://apnews.com/hub/cricket

Copyright © 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.