No one embodies the captivating rise of Afghanistan cricket more than Mohammad Nabi, the captain and heartbeat of a team that is winning the admiration of everyone at the World Cup.
Afghanistan may be one the weakest teams at the World Cup with no real hope of winning the tournament but that hardly seems to matter.
Just making it to the sport’s greatest spectacle is a victory in itself for a country torn by war and with little cricketing heritage.
Salvation Adversity is a part of life for Afghanistan’s cricketers and for many, including Nabi, the sport became their salvation.
Like most of his teammates, Nabi grew up in a Pakistan refugee camp during the Soviet War in Afghanistan. It was there that he first learnt the game, spending hours each day playing on dirt fields with a tennis ball.
“You play cricket a lot in refugee camps,” he told reporters when he first arrived in Australia this month for the World Cup.
“Now I am the captain of Afghanistan in the first World Cup,” he said. “I am very happy to represent Afghanistan in the World Cup and hopefully I’ll enjoy the whole tournament,” he said.
