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Afghanistan v Scotland, World Cup 2015, Group A, Dunedin February 26, 2015

Mighty Afghans find their

voice

As their side stumbled towards victory, Afghanistan's fanshelped provide the final impetus and turned Dunedin into acorner of Kandahar

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DEVASHISH FULORIA IN

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"Everywhere we go-o

People want to know-o

Who we are, where we come from

So we tell them, we are the Afghans

Afghanistan raised their World Cup flag with victory in Dunedin © AFP

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Mighty, mighty Afghans"

The handful of Afghanistan supporters who had

travelled from around New Zealand - a couple from

Australia, too - had turned one corner of the

University Oval into Kandahar. Most of them now

settled in the southern hemisphere once lived around

the historical city. One among them left Kandahar in

2000 and moved temporarily to Peshawar, in

Pakistan, before finally establishing a base in New

Zealand. That was before cricket had taken over as

Afghanistan's No. 1 sport from boxing, wrestling and

buzkashi.

He had flown down along with his wife and two

daughters from Auckland to watch the two Dunedin

games. The group around him were all friends and

family, dressed in their best kurtas and embroidered

vests, complete with matching pakols on their heads,

speaking in Pashto and English together, waving two

big flags and delivering their own version of the chant

from Remember the Titans to ensure their players

did not feel alone.

The first time the chant went up was in the 33rd over

of Scotland's innings when Hamid Hassan, standing at

mid-off dived forward to pluck up a low chance off

Shapoor Zadran's bowling. Hassan had been signing

autographs for the group only a while ago and was

quick to respond with a wave. The group, on its feet

now, kept repeating the chant knowing they were

being heard. It grew louder as Dawlat Zadran struck

four overs later and directed his celebration towards

the supporters. But it was the last time in a while that

the chant was heard as Scotland's lower order

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Moin Khan to

return home

3Highest WC

score, fastest

double-ton,

record sixes

4Letter to de

Villiers

5Wilson, K

O'Brien seal

tense win

frustrated Afghanistan to stretch the total to 210.

Many things can hurt a newcomer in a big

tournament like this. It could be swing, bounce, the

wind chill, the quality of the opposition, or just being

in a foreign country. Afghanistan had a good start to

the tournament in Canberra before Bangladesh

fought back strongly; they were much closer against

Sri Lanka in Dunedin three days ago only to see

Mahela Jayawardene and Thisara Perera shut doors

on them.

But today was Afghanistan's big day. They believed

it. And, as they opted to bowl, their fans believed it

too.

On the eve of this match, Afghanistan batsman Javed

Ahmadi had said people back home wanted to see

them beat a Full Member but mid-way through the

second innings it appeared that, in aiming for bigger

targets, they had taken lightly an opposition not

dissimilar to them.

Following a slump from 85 for 2 to 97 for 7, 114 away

from a win, things turned rather bleak, enough to

send their supporters into despair. They hadn't seen

this coming. They didn't want to see what was

coming. For the next few overs, the quiet in that little

corner was making its presence felt. It probably

helped the two batsmen in the middle. Passion can

drive adrenaline, which was exactly what was not

needed.

Samiullah Shenwari and Dawlat took the approach

that had helped Scotland's lower order survive -

prevent any further damage. Only 10 runs came as

404shares

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they blocked the next six overs, biding time in hope

that there would be a release somewhere. So did

their fans. They quietly saw the match unfold, felt

Shenwari's agony when Dawlat played an absurd shot

to be dismissed, probably expected the worst at that

stage but, throughout, the two big Afghanistan flags

stayed up, fluttering in the chilly breeze.

The clouds of despair only showed signs of lifting

when Shenwari smashed a six and a four of

consecutive deliveries in the 39th over. The six was

Shenwari's first, the four a confirmation of a signal

that the chase was on. That sign was read on the

grass banks as a call for back-up. Shenwari was going

to take control but he needed support. And so they

screamed again, "Mighty, mighty Afghans", for the

only the third time in the day. The neutral

supporters had come in with the promise of being

Scotland's back-up but they didn't really care to take

sides; they were just loving the fight.

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Devashish Fuloria is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.

Shenwari would go on to hit three sixes in the 47th

over, the third one landing just in front of the Afghan

group. He was dismissed in the same over but then

the back-up troops took over. They were up and

running every single with their last pair. As Shapoor

ran towards midwicket after hitting the winning runs,

they ran towards him; as he knelt down with his

arms outstretched, they were facing him with theirs

open. With some 20 yards between them, they were

all in one embrace.

"When we see the crowd, we get more happy, and we

feel that we have more company," Shenwari said

after the match. "When we get a wicket, or a

boundary, we get a shout, so we feel so good."

As the rest trickled away, the Afghan supporters

walked right by the dressing room to get closer to

their players, chanting "Mighty Afghans" followed by

"Afghanistan Zindabad". The slick ground DJ, never

to miss a trick, was quick to switch to Afghan tunes,

transforming this lush corner of the world

temporarily to Kandahar once again.

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Shapoor Zadran headed towards Afghanistan's supporters after completing victory ©

AFP

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