Former Afghanistan player Amir Mangal makes international debut for Germany

Afghanistan’s rise in cricket has been a story of players overcoming the prejudices and hardships in a war trodden country with help of their neighbors and then becoming one of the best new teams on the horizon and have gone to get great success in international cricket and became the newest Test cricket playing nations along with Ireland in 2018.

There have been players who can be deemed as the cornerstones of the Afghanistan teams like Nawroz Mangal, who was one of their earliest captains and now is a member of the Afghanistan Cricket Board. Apart from him, Mohammad Nabi, Asghar Afghan, Karim Sadiq, Mohammad Shahzad, Hamid Hassan, and Dawlat Zadran are some of the names to be mentioned. Another name who could have been a big draw for them was Amir Mangal, who recently made his international cricket debut for Germany.

Mangal moves to Germany after disappointment in Afghanistan

Born on January 1, 1989, in Paktia, Amir Mangal is a right-handed batsman and a right arm off break bowler. Mangal was seemed to be destined for something big, and played for Afghanistan under 25 side, the Afghanistan side, but failed to move up the ranks to international cricket and then move to Germany as a refugee in 2014.

Recently, the cricketer made his debut, realizing his dream of playing international cricket, albeit for Germany, his adopted country against Belgium on May 11, in the Royal Brussels Cricket Club Ground, Waterloo. A journalist from Afghanistan M. Ibrahim Momand shared a photo of Amir with former Afghanistan captain Asghar Afghan with the caption reading, “Disappointed in Afghanistan over nepotism in selection process, solid batsman #AmirMangal who immigrated to Europe, finally made his international debut for @Cricket_Germany.@MAsgharAfghan”

Disappointed in Afghanistan over nepotism in selection process, solid batsman #AmirMangal who immigrated to Europe, finally made his international debut for @Cricket_Germany.@MAsgharAfghan pic.twitter.com/VnIAWAiBbr

— M.ibrahim Momand (@kayhanmomand) May 26, 2019

As for the Afghanistan team, they made an amazing start to their preparations for the ongoing ICC World Cup 2019, as they defeated Pakistan in their first warm-up match in Bristol on May 24. Afghan bowlers led by Mohammad Nabi, with three wickets and Dawlat Zadran and Rashid Khan with two wickets each kept the Pakistani team to just 262 runs despite Babar Azam’s 112.

Then Hazratullah Zazai put an amazing onslaught on Pakistani bowlers with 49 runs off 28 balls and Hashmatullah Shahidi made 74* to take the team to a 3-wicket win in the last over. They now face England in the second practice match on May 27 in London. Afghanistan will begin their main tournament against Australia on June 1, 2019