Watch: Sphageeza reunites Afghanistan Cricket and fans

Watch: Sphageeza reunites Afghanistan Cricket and fans: “The Indian Premier League is keenly followed in Afghanistan”, quoted the Afghanistan U-19 team manager. Well, his words were nothing but the feelings of the entire cricket loving strife-torn nation. The Afghanistan cricket team was recognized and the Afghanistan Cricket Board was formed in 1995 and became an affiliate member of the International Cricket Council (ICC) in 2001. But their best performances have been seen in the recent times.

Afghanistan is undoubtedly a juggernaut among all other associate nations. They recently secured a historic 3-2 series win over Zimbabwe, the first in ODIs by an Associate against a Full Member, with a massive 73-run victory in the fifth ODI in Bulawayo. Prior to this victory, they had grabbed the eyeballs of the cricket fraternity by qualifying for the ICC World T20 in 2012 and ICC Cricket World Cup down under in 2015.

But the craze for cricket in Afghanistan is unprecedented. Most of the players look up to Indian cricketers as their role models. The popularity is due to the huge impact that IPL has had in Afghanistan.

Naweed Sayem, a senior advisor of the Afghanistan Cricket Board said, “IPL is so popular that it literally stops life in Afghanistan. You would find every shopkeeper, school, office goer or anyone in family hooked to it.”

The impact has been so great that Afghanistan Cricket Board launched its own version of the league called as Sphageeza (which means sixer) in the year 2013. The tournament has been a huge success and has brought the entire nation together. Albeit the future of the nation is facing dwindling political crisis, cricket has managed to give everybody some hopes and joys to live it. After all, the motto of the tournament is “United for Peace”.

Sphageeza features 6 teams (initially 5) and the tournament in its previous edition saw an unprecedented 8 million viewers which was a record for any sport in Afghanistan history.” Cricket has provided a big boost to Afghanistan’s national pride in recent years — including our World Cup qualification in Australia. This (cricket league) is unprecedented. Cricket has brought lot of happiness to Afghans. Cricket can bring Afghans together and is a very good toll for peace and stability. Cricket and Shah Rukh Khan are the two most popular things there,” said Sayem, the manager of the Afghanistan U-19 team.

Currently, the Asian Games Silver medalist in Cricket, Afghanistan is preparing for the upcoming t20 World Cup which is to be held in India. The U-19 team is in Kolkata playing a tri-series against India and Bangladesh as a part of their preparation for the U-19 World Cup which will take place in Bangladesh from 22 January to 14 February 2016. The addition of former Pakistan great, Inzamam Ul Haq will boost the team with his presence as he would take over the coaching reigns. “For us it’s not just a preparation for the World Cup but it’s like a mini Asia Cup with big teams like India and Bangladesh. We’re grateful to BCCI for arranging such a tournament,” Sayem added.

The video here is a promo of the Sphageeza or the Sixers League as it is also known as. The international players of Afghanistan feature in this video.

Watch: Sphageeza reunites Afghanistan Cricket and fans:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TciNPl0U6WI