Asghar Stanikzai takes a special step to protect the identity of Afghan citizens

Afghanistan cricket has grown leaps and bounds over the past one decade. The political scenario isn’t something joyous in the country as the perpetrators try their heart out to halt people from playing the game of cricket. However, despite the travails, the Afghans have marched ahead. Recently, the national team played their maiden Test match against India in Bangalore under the leadership of Asghar Stanikzai.

Albeit they lost the match by a massive margin, the team was showered with appreciations from every nook and corner of the world. Even during the presentation ceremony, Ajinkya Rahane, who captained the Indian team in the absence of Virat Kohli, called upon the Afghan players to pose with them along with the winners’ trophy. Stanikzai has had a stupendous year.

Stanikzai to Afghan

He helped his team qualify for the 2019 Cricket World Cup in England and Wales. They beat the Windies in the final to win the qualifiers in Zimbabwe earlier in March. Recently, he took a massive step for his own countrymen. The 30-year-old altered his surname and will now be referred to as  ‘Asghar Afghan’. He resorted to the same in order to protect the identity of the Afghan citizens.

The official Twitter handle of the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) tweeted about the same. It wrote, “Afghanistan National Cricket Team captain Asghar Stanikzai has changed his name to Asghar Afghan in honour of protecting the national identity of Afghan citizens. The decision was made official when he registered for the new Electronic National Identity Cards (E-tazkira),”.

Here is ACB’s tweet

Stanikzai is the veteran of their cricket having made his international debut way back in 2009. He was a part of Afghanistan’s maiden ODI match against Scotland in Benoni. He also represented the team in the 2015 World Cup in Down Under. The Kabul-born cricketer has thus far played one Test, 86 ODIs and 54 T20Is in which he has racked up 36, 1608 and 963 runs respectively.

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