Sport and the rebuilding of a nation

Two countries in the last one week made news in the sports pages – Afghanistan and Serbia.

I had blogged about the Afghan cricket team earlier – 1, 2, 3 – and I need to blog again. My friend Sanjeev , a fellow Afghan cricket fan, sent me a mail after Afghanistan beat Scotland in the Intercontinental Cup final. He says and I quote:

War-ridden Afghanistan, newbies to the game of cricket, won the Finals of the ICC Intercontinental Cup beating Scotland by 7 wickets! (I don’t remember the last time a cricket team had been this inspiring and for whom I had genuinely rejoiced like this!)

TOTAL domination..won every single match (including big wins against Kenya and Scotland) other than the first one which they drew! Chasing 370 to win, they were 211/4 in that match…so could ahve won that one too if it was a 5 day match and not a 4-day match!

The record is impressive.

Match 1: v Zimbabwe at Mutare (Zim) – match drawn

Match 2: v Netherlands at Amstelveen (Ned) – won by 1 wicket. A low scoring game, chased 209 in the fourth innings

Match 3: v Ireland at Dambulla (Sri Lanka) – won by 7 wickets.  Scored 474 in the first innings in response to the Irish first innings of 405. Bowled out the Irish for 202 in the second innings leaving them an easy target of 137.

Match 4: v Canada at Sharjah (UAE) – won by 6 wickets. Canada scored 566 in the first innings and Afghanistan scored just 264. Canada did not enforce the follow on and batted till 191/4 before declaring. Set a mammoth fourth innings target of 494, the Afghans achieved that losing just 4 wickets.

Match 5: v Scotland at Ayr (Scot) – won by 229 runs. The Afghans batted first this time scoring 435. They bowled out Scotland for 139. No follow on, Afghans piled on the pressure with 249/5 declared setting a fourth innings target of 545. Scotland were bowled out for 316.

Match 6: v Kenya at Nairobi (Ken) – won by 167 runs. The scoreline was very similar to the match against Scotland. The Afghans scoring 464 in the first innings. The Kenyans had a fourth innings target of 511 but were bowled out for 344.

6 matches, 5 wins, 1 draw. That’s their record. And all the six teams have featured in the ODI world cups before. They have players who play in the English county circuit or in South Africa. The two “home” matches were played in UAE and Sri Lanka. But, unlike their neighbour who continues to whine about why teams do not come there, the Afghans made no noise about not being able to play at home i.e. Afghanistan. In fact, it turns out to be a better deal because they get access to high class training facilities in UAE or Sri Lanka. Afghanistan may be a security nightmare but even infrastructure wise, they do not have the capability to host world standard international matches.

The final was against Scotland and obviously they were the favourites. It was a tough match at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium. The Scots scored 212 thanks largely to a century by McCallum (there were just two other batsmen who reached double figures). Hamid Hassan, easily the best bowler among the Associate countries, took 5 wickets. The Afghan batting could not hold up and were dismissed for 171. Scotland could have taken the match here but in the second innings, the Afghan bowling was unplayable with Hassan, Ashraf and Shenwari taking 3 wickets each and the Scots were bundled out for 82. Chasing 137, the Afghan second innings was more comfortable and they won by 7 wickets.

Not surprisingly, Afghans top the batting and bowling charts – Mohd Shahzad and Nowroze Mangal (the captain) top the batsmen with 802 and 593 runs respectively while Hamid Hassan with 43 wickets tops the bowlers.

After all this, one must truly stand up and applaud this team. As Hassan writes in his blog before the final started:

What a year it has been for Afghanistan cricket! Winning the ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier in Dubai in February was a moment I will never forget; having the chance to play India and South Africa at the ICC World Twenty20 in the Caribbean was amazing and beating Pakistan at the Asian Games and securing a silver medal was one of the greatest moments of my career.

—

On to Serbia and the Davis Cup. The Davis Cup has always been looked upon as a poor cousin to the professional tennis tour. But for many countries, it is as big as it can get. The brand of tennis that is displayed here is definitely different from the Grand Slams but not in terms of quality. The different flavour that Davis Cup tennis gives is expressed in Djokovic’s words below:

“I would put everything behind me that I have achieved in 2010 just for this win. Definitely the best feeling that we have experienced on a tennis court, ever.”

The complex Balkan politics, war, civil strife etc meant a lot of new nations like Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia, etc enter the sports arena with the task of building new teams even as their fledgling nations grow. Serbia had one big champion – Novak Djokovic. World No 3 who is one of the few tennis players to have won a Grand Slam in the Federer – Nadal era.

What does this mean to a nation? One had to see the matches played at the Beograzia Arena in Belgrade. The French captain Guy Forget called them “imbeciles”.

People may diss about the Davis Cup and probably justified too but the tournament like all inter-nation tournaments like the football World Cup has a different meaning – else why would people who never follow any sport chase their countrymen when they participate in the Asian Games or the Olympic Games?

World Cup T20 – Days 6,7, 8 – Barbados and Super 8

Making up for the past couple of days in one single post.

There were no untoward incidents in the preliminary round (viz. upsets by minnows) though the 65/6 by Australia and the pedestrian batting of South Africa were more disappointing than the lack of any major impact by the bottom four of world cricket.

More importantly, the world cup moved to the third venue – the classic Kensington Oval, Barbados. More than Lord’s or Eden Gardens, the stands of the newly renovated (renovated for the 2007 World Cup) collectively have the power to overwhelm the players. Bowlers have to choose between the Joel Garner End or the Malcolm Marshall End. When the batsmen look up they cannot avoid looking straight at the Sir Garfield Sobers Pavilion, the Greenidge and Haynes Stand, the 3 W’s Stand, the Hewitt and Innis Stand or avoid being missed by the hawks sitting in the Tony Cozier Media Centre.

Contrary to the warm ups which were played on slow pitches, the pitches on offer for the three days so far (India playing Australia right now with WI v Sri Lanka to follow) have been bouncy, fast and true. Even bowlers like Mashrafe Mortaza had Shane Watson playing late and mistiming his pull to be out.

Bounce helps spinners as well and left spinners specially seemed to be having fun – Shakib ul Hasan v Australia and Micheal Yardy v Pakistan. However Ravindra Jadeja was pathetic today bowling half tracks to Warner and Watson.

The two groups in the Super 8s provide an interesting split. Group E has the unpredictable Pakistan along with old pros South Africa, England and New Zealand. Group F on the other hand has four teams with four different styles of play – India, Sri Lanka, Australia and West Indies. Expect to see standard county cricket style strategies and plays in Group E. Expect to see street smartness, flair, passion and a lot of ingenuity in Group F.

Right India 17-3 in 4 overs chasing 183. And Rohit Sharma playing his first match, gets a big chase to pilot. (update @ 21:50 – 69 runs to win from 26 balls. At one time it looked as if India would be all out for 69)

Yesterday, before the Super 8s began, my picks for the semis were India, Australia, Pakistan and South Africa. Australia and South Africa seem to be going fine so far.

World Cup T20 – Day 2

India picked up a +2 NRR. Pakistan win by 21 runs.

I actually missed watching the games, except for a few snatches, as I was with some friends drowning the bad performance blues at the Landmark Quiz.

I did catch the end of the Indian chase with Vijay missing his half century and Dhoni hitting a couple of sixes to finish it off. The Afghan team were outclassed no doubt but there is no shame in this defeat. I thought they were extremely graceful and gave their all in the game. Hamid Hussain’s attempt at a skier is indicative of the passion and hard aggression that they have.

More importantly, in cricketing terms, the Indian team left out Rohit Sharma and went with Yusuf Pathan and Ravindra Jadeja. I had predicted this in a chat show earlier in the week. This is India’s best XI. It gives Dhoni five highly capable spinners and three seam-swing bowlers. It also gives the batting depth right down to no 9. However, Rohit Sharma may be advised to keep a watch out for Raina.

Did not watch the game against Pakistan and so cannot make any comments. However, looking at the scoresheet it would seem that batting is not so much of a problem here in St Lucia as it was at Providence. Of course, the quality of bowling needs to be considered as well.

Finally, a small trivia piece about the Razzaqs. This is Abdur and this is Abdul.

World Cup T20 – Day 1

New Zealand beat Sri Lanka by 1 ball and 2 wickets

West Indies beat Ireland by 70 runs

Three things came up as significant today

1. Ground Conditions: Slow pitches, slightly sluggish outfield, large dimensions (at least at Providence) queers the pitch towards the slower bowlers and the spinners. In fact the worst bowlers in the SLA v NZL match were the two fast bowlers Bond and Malinga. So we are likely to have

• Low scoring games i.e. 130 – 150 range
• More and more teams starting their bowling with a spinner
• Dibbly Dobbly bowlers will have their places in the team assured

It’s not as if sixes and fours are not possible. Darren Sammy and Jesse Ryder showed it is possible. Obviously, the hitting has to be done with a touch more effort than normal. Bad balls of course help as it did Sammy.

2. Classic batting: Mahela Jayawardene showed the value of class. Though he ended up in the losing side, his innings was evidence that T20 is not just slam bang stuff. Considering his partner Dilshan (3 of 19) was completely off the grid, the run rate of 6+ in the first 6 overs tells you how much Mahela contributed, without a single slog.

It also tells me that Gautam Gambhir is likely to be a key batsman for India. Technically and temperamentally, he is the best in the current Indian line-up and ideal for this kind of hybrid of aggression and attrition. The other players will have to bat around him with their 2 over blasts. After Gambhir, Dhoni has the right ability for this kind of innings but he would be coming too late in the order to be effective.

3. Fielding standards: From the crap in IPL, there’s a sea change in fielding standards, especially catching. Darren Sammy seemed to have Spiderman’s web shooters stretching out and catching everything. So that’s a big change

Watching on television, one discovered a lost art of commentary – silence. Commentators actually shut up for minutes letting the TV audience watch the game intently. And the topics of discussion were shots, strategies, form, players – not blimps, forefronts of technology, carbon kamals, certain individuals, sweat equity, etc.

Today big day for Afghanistan. Like Eliza Doolittle making her first presence in high society, the boys from Kabul enter the world stage playing their spiritual neighbours India. They promise a surprise.

In fact it is a complete sub-continent / South Asia day in West Indies. Pakistan play Bangladesh in the next match.

Afghanistan: FTW for WC T20

As a writer I wanted to ask them about the war. I wanted to hear stories that would shock, sadden and startle. But as a stranger among this happy-go-lucky group I sensed that such questions would be awkward and inappropriate. The truth is that right now they have other thoughts at the front of their minds. Like how they will bowl to Gautam Gambhir and where they will find four pairs of boots for their quartet of fast bowlers to wear in the tournament.

Afghanistan play India on Saturday and some days later South Africa. Strictly speaking, if one includes all the nations that have been playing international cricket, their rise has been the biggest. From zero cricket two years ago to ODI status and a spot in the World T20 2010, that has been their achievement. Even Bangladesh or Zimbabwe have had such improvements in their game.

Andy Bull gives this story about their opening batsman Sadiq:

Sadiq has a confidence which sums up the attitude of his team. When I asked him about the prospect of facing Dale Steyn in the first over of their second group match against South Africa, he grinned and said: “I played against Shoaib Akhtar in a warm-up match last year. Very fast. Very, very fast. First over he bowled me two short balls,” he broke stride to mime leaning back to play a pull shot. “I hit them both to the boundary, bang, bang. One of them went on to the roof. Then I told him: ‘this is not club cricket’. I am a very good batsman, very quick reflexes.”

I think they will be entertaining and knowing the resilience of the people from that mountainous country, they are going make it difficult for India and South Africa. For the India match, my loyalties are divided. For the South Africa match, I am with Afghanistan.

The Afghan Dream

I had blogged about Afghanistan’s dream run in cricket over the last one year and how they are now in the Super Eights of the ICC World Cricket League (The top four teams qualify for the 2011 World Cup).

A good friend from Boston, Sanjeev Naik and me, have been tracking Afghanistan over the course of the tournament. We have been shameless, publicly rooting for them. However, their dream of making it to the World Cup may be over has they have virtually no chance of making it to the top four (they might just end up fifth or sixth in the Super 8).

We have uncovered a few links and some fascinating stories about the Afghan journey.

Out of the Ashes

Leslie Knott, Tim Albone and Lucy Martens are producing a documentary on the entire Afghanistan journey. The film is called “Out of the Ashes”. It started in May 2008 at the Division 5 tournament in Jersey (one of the Channel Islands). Afghanistan won that tournament receiving the prize from Geoffrey Boycott himself. Then they won Division 4 in Tanzania, Division 3 in Argentina and qualified for the ICC World Cricket League (in effect Division 2).

From the story written by Leslie on Cricinfo (link courtesy Sanjeev), a few quotes

One Briton, a Canadian, a girl from Germany, and 11 Afghanistan cricketers: it’s an odd mix, but that is what it took to make Out of the Ashes, a documentary following the Afghanistan team on their quest for World Cup qualification.

…

“Not only are we going to bring the cup back from Jersey in Division Five,” declared Taj Malik, the first coach of the team, in May 2008, “but we are also going to the World Cup.” It was a far-fetched statement. Afghanistan have no pitch and only a handful of ramshackle batting cages. There is a bowling machine, but power is intermittent at best in Kabul.

…

The players are all gentlemen. Ahmad Shah, the former left-arm spinner and now assistant coach, makes sure we have been served lunch before he eats. They also have an eye for beauty, and covet flowers, especially roses.

The website of the production team has a trailer of the documentary but in Apple Quicktime format. I didn’t have the patience to download the plug-in and watch it. However, I went through the photographs and this photo gives you an idea of how even with the worst facilities they have had their success just on the basis of their spirit. (Even smallest cricket grounds in Mumbai have much better turf conditions)

(Courtesy: Outoftheashes.tv)

Hamid Hassan

Hamid Hassan is their star bowler. He learnt his reverse swing from Freddie Flintoff, smashed Monty Panesar’s helmet with a 152kph ball and writes a blog on Cricinfo. Will Luke goes almost teary eyed as he writes about him in an article in Cricinfo:

For a young man, he has already achieved the sort of dreams that many of his peers in Afghanistan might dismiss as outlandishly ambitious. Even foolish. Not only has he visited Europe and stayed in “lovely, lovely” Britain, he has reached cricketing nirvana by playing at Lord’s. His aspirations jut as high as the rocky peaks of Bati’Kot in the eastern province of Nangarhar, near Jalalabad, where he grew up.

…

Like all parents, Hamid’s only want what is best for their son. They may not know or care that he learned reverse swing from one of his heroes. And his mother would certainly be more alarmed than proud that one of her sons nearly broke toes of several opposing batsmen a couple of years ago.

…

“I want to be a future big international cricketer. I want the world to know me, to be famous. ‘Look, it’s Hamid,’ they might say.”

Great ambitions, this is one team I don’t mind having them play official international cricket. Cricket needs such teams that play with passion and pride.

From the Rubble

Afghanistan and Iraq are two countries reduced to rubble. Life is lived in ruins. Civil amenities and basic supplies are hard to get. This is besides the violence and unrest prevalent in those parts. Yet three  stories of hope.

The Afghanistan Cricket Team

The Afghanistan cricket team is currently participating in the ICC World Cup Qualifiers in South Africa. Four teams will qualify for the 2011 World Cup scheduled in the sub-continent (however, that is up for debate given the current security scenario). Wherefrom have they come? Afghanistan is not known for cricket. Of course the British, Indian and Pakistani influence may be there but for local Afghanis to give up their football and buzkhasi is quite a thing to be amazed at.

What is even more amazing is their abilities in the game. Till last year, they were in the ICC Division 5. Today they have crossed three Divisions to play in the Qualifiers in effect Division 2, one level lower than the regular nations.

Hameed Hasan, fast bowler for the Afghans writes in his blog for Cricinfo:

It is our dream to play in the World Cup and we are hoping to do the best we can in this tournament.

The tournament is in South Africa in parallel to the RSA v AUS contest and Hameed writes about sharing rooms in the same hotel as the Australians:

We had spent the weekend in Johannesburg, where we were staying in the same hotel complex as the Australian and South African teams, which was amazing. I managed to see quite a few famous players including Ricky Ponting, Mitchell Johnson and Brad Haddin.

As of today, they have two wins against Denmark and Bermuda. There are 12 teams in two groups of six. The top four from each group head into the Super Eights. The top four qualify for the World Cup. The favourites, on virtue of their relative pedigree, are Kenya, Netherlands, Ireland and Scotland. However, as Will Luke on Cricinfo, reporting on the Afghanistan v Bermuda match earlier today, says

Afghanistan’s unquenchable confidence drove them unerringly to a convincing 60-run win over Bermuda, who were condemned to their second loss in as many days. Afghanistan batted aggressively, fielded with agility and bowled with impressive discipline throughout.

[...]

There was little question which team was the hungrier, and Afghanistan’s second win on the trot ought to serve as an acute reminder of their fearlessness and ability.

Afghanistan wins a medal in the Olympics

Another major sporting jewel was last year at the Beijing Olympics when Afghanistan won its first ever medal with Rohullah Nikpai in Taekwondo.  This archived article in Yahoo writes about the struggle

When Gayezabi met Nikpai, they were both living at a refugee camp in Iran during the years of war that embroiled Afghanistan in the 1980s and 1990s. The two competed together on a refugee taekwondo team.
Nikpai came to Kabul four years ago, Gayezabi said. In the mornings he lifted weights and in the evenings he practiced martial arts. In between he earned money cutting hair as a barber.
With success came better training conditions. After being selected for the national team six months ago, he was able to use a special gymnasium.
But in a country where sports take a distant place behind the realities of war, few resources are dedicated to training athletes.
“My training situation is a lot like the situation in my country,” Nikpai said. “It’s not good.”

The Iraqi Football Team

During the days of Saddam Hussein, his son Uday was the chief of Iraqi football. He had a simple reward system for his players. According to wikipedia and this article in The Age, this was the Dark Generation

Motivational speeches: “Players’ legs will be cut off”
Missing practice: Prison terms
Own goals / Missed Penalties: Flogging with thorns
Losses: Flogging with electric cables; baths in raw sewage

In 1996, Iraq was ranked 139 in the world, compared to a ranking of 39 in 2004. It was one of the top teams in Asia in the Eighties.

Saddam Hussein and the war that followed played havoc. Local leagues were disrupted, Iraqi players were busy protecting themselves. Inspite of all this, the game continued. The successes of the struggle came.

1. In 2004 Athens Olympics, they came fourth
2. In 2006 Asian Games, they took the silver
3. In 2007 AFC Asian Cup, they took the trophy

This made them the Team of the Year across various fora.

Afghanistan and Iraq doing well in sports – Can it sustainably raise the spirits of the two nations?