Afghan fans celebrate win over England from Mini Kabul to Delhi metro, from DU hostel mess to streets of Kandahar | Cricket-world-cup News

Ahead of their match against India, the Afghanan Cricket Board (ACB) requested the International Cricket Council (ICC) for fifty passes to the local Afghan fans, but they didn’t get any.On Sunday, in Delhi’s mini Kabul all the Afghan shops were closed as most of them bought tickets for the Afghanan-England match and those who didn’t, got passes from the Afghan cricketers.
Haseebullah Siddiqi was among the handful of Afghan fans, who got tickets, because his childhood friend Rahmanullah Gurbaz managed three for him. Haseebullah, who spent most of his time these last few days with Gurbaz in the team hotel, didn’t know how exactly to celebrate.
“I am just running with the Afghan flag in the metro. We are singing songs. This is a very emotional moment for the entire Afghan community in Delhi and those who are living abroad,” Haseebullah told The Indian Express.
Haseebullah, an actor in Punjabi movies, says this win will give strength to his people back home, who have been living under terror and those who have been affected the earthquake.
“I am spending most of my time with Gurbaz. He kept telling me that he wanted to score a century and dedicate it to the people of Herat. He would just scroll through all the photos and videos of the earthquake. That is why he got so emotional after getting out. He wanted to hit a century and there was a planned celebration as well. I guess we’ll have to wait for another match,” says Haseebullah.
Mohammad Almas has not opened his burger shop for the past two days. He has spent all his time either outside the stadium or the team hotel just to get a glimpse of his favourite cricketers, Mohammad Nabi and Rashid Khan.
“It was impossible to get a ticket for the India match. But for this match, we got very easily and I just wanted to live this moment. I used to travel to Greater Noida and Lucknow as well, where Afghanan used to play their home matches. A bit of an emotional moment for all of us. We would have never thought that we might be able to beat England ever,” says Almas, who was a journal in Herat and left Afghanan in 2018.
Meanwhile, Nazamudin Asar, watched the match alone in the mess at a post-graduate men’s hostel in Delhi University’s North Campus. Asar didn’t watch the entire game, but when they took two early wickets, he raced to the hostel mess to watch the rest of the match.
“This is horical right? The English never won a war against the Afghans, and now we defeated them in their own sport. What a moment,” laughs Asar.
Asar, 28, hails from Kandahar and has been living in India for nine years and is in the final stage of writing his PhD thesis on the India and Afghanan trade routes over the years.Most Read
1
When ex-ISRO chief was told to ‘get lost’ ISRO satellite centre

2
Suhasini Maniratnam says people know Aishwarya Rai only as a ‘beauty’, but she knows her as a ‘real person’: ‘She has got so many qualities…’

See More

“My father is scolding me saying why I was not in the stadium. My mother was telling me that people are on the roads celebrating. I can imagine it. Good for the team and most importantly for the Afghan people, who are living outside,” says Asar.
Nida Dar, a final-year student of Delhi College of Journalism, calls it a significant achievement.
“Between all the sad news about Afghanan, this is the best I have had since leaving my country.  This is a significant achievement for everyone, I mean for every Afghan. The cricket players, despite their challenges, showed their fighting spirit against the defending champions. This is the Afghan way,” she says.