ICC T20 World Cup 2016: Afghanistan cricket team given hero's welcome upon arrival back home
The Afghanistan cricket team were given a warm reception by thousands of enthusiastic fans upon their arrival back home after sealing a historic win over West Indies in the World T20, IBN Live reports.
Though the Asian minnows were knocked out after being defeated in their other three group fixtures, their spirited performances had caught the eye of the cricket world before they went one better and beat the former World T20 champions.
Afghanistan, who overcame Zimbabwe, Hong Kong and Scotland to qualify for the Super 10 stage of the ongoing tournament, put up a brave fight against Sri Lanka, South Africa and England, with the latter narrowly avoiding defeat after finding themselves at 57/6 at one stage against the Afghans.
In their final league fixture against the West Indies, who had already advanced to the semi-finals, the Asian side pulled off a major upset winning the contest by 6 runs.
The victory sparked scenes of wild celebration on the pitch as well as off it with the cricket loving public of Afghanistan taking to the streets, which have more often than not been witness to unfortunate scenes of terror activities, to express their joy.
The scenes were somewhat similar when the cricket team touched down at Kabul’s international airport earlier today with thousands greeting them with waving flags and shouts of joy.
A section of the public broke into a traditional Attan folk dance to signal their delight with the way their side performed back in India. Thrilled with the scenes no doubt, Afghan batsman Gulbadin Naib expressed his delight at having secured the historic win against the Darren Sammy-led side.
"West Indies is one of the best teams in the world and we defeated it," Naib said, as reported by IBN Live. "It is unbelievable, a matter of great joy that a small team like ours could defeat them."
Skipper Asghar Stanikzai chose to look at the bigger picture as he reminded the reporters that his side has been playing good cricket for a good amount of time and feels that the team can go on to create more wonders in the future.
"In the past five to six years, Afghanistan's cricket team defeated some powerful teams," said Stanikzai. "Afghanistan will be a very successful team in upcoming years."
Cricket enthusiast Sayed Kamal Sadat also had his say on what the victory meant to the Afghan public in the midst of the tough circumstances under which they are forced to live.
"I am ecstatic. In our war torn country such a victory has brought happiness and pride," said an emotional Sadat.
Here is a video of the Afghan players being given a special reception in a stadium after their arrival back home:
The scenes were in stark contrast to the ones witnessed in neighbouring Pakistan where the Shahid Afridi-led side were greeted with slogans of ‘shame, shame” after their dismal showing in India.
With the ouster at the group stages coming on the back of an equally disappointing Asia Cup failure, head coach Waqar Younis has been forced to tender his resignation while a similar fate awaits skipper Afridi as well.