‘We feel their pain’: Afghanan captain Hashmatullah Shahidi dedicates the win to Afghan refugees | Cricket-world-cup News

Afghanan captain Hashmatullah Shahidi has dedicated their seven-wicket win over the Netherlands to the struggle Afghan refugees are facing in Pakan.
Pakan is home to over four million Afghan migrants and refugees, and about 1.7 million undocumented Afghans refugees have been ordered to leave the country Wednesday.
“There are a lot of our refugee people in struggle; we all are watching their videos and we feel their pain. I dedicate this win to them,” Hashmatullah said at the post-match presentation.
With 282 runs in seven innings, Hashmatullah is the leading run-getter for his country in the World Cup. After their third win on the trot, Afghanan are certainly in the fray to qualify for the semi-finals.
“We all are very united, we all are enjoying the wins and all of them are thinking about the team. We are trying our best to make it to the semi-finals. If we make it, it would be a big achievement for us. I lost my mother three months back, so my family is in pain, so it will be a big achievement for our country first and then for me also,” said the Afghan skipper.

There were around 50 Afghanan fans in Lucknow, celebrating for their country. Wakil Ahmad, a final year civil engineering student has said that they only wanted to win against Pakan because of the way, they are treating the Afghan refugees. “Winning against Pakan is like winning the World Cup. The way they are treating Afghan refugees is inhuman. It will be the cherry on the cake, if we would manage to get into the semis,” said Wakil.
Afghanan opener Ibrahim Zadran, who had dedicated his player of the match performance against Pakan to the “Afghan refugees,” said their fairytale run has brought smiles back on the faces of Afghan people back home.
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“We always try to give happiness to our people back home. It is them we are representing. Our wins have given them a reason to smile,” Zadran said in the mixed zone.
Zadran, who has scored a fey 87 against Pakan in Pune and was adjudged player of the match, later in the post-match ceremony, had said: “I want to dedicate this player of the match award to those people whom Pakan have sent back to Afghanan.”
Afghanan head coach Jonathan Trott said the cricketers do talk about all the issues that are happening in their country, be it the earthquake or the refugee crisis.
“I think the players are in tune with everything that’s going on back home, whether it’s an earthquake and other things. I think they’re enjoying the joy that they’re giving to the Afghan people and the smile that they currently have on their face in the changing room, but also the smiles that they’re giving to their countrymen,” he told the reporters.
“The great thing about sport is being able to touch people who are far away than those who are in the stadium,” he said.Most Read
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Trott in the pre-match press conference, had spoken about how he is learning about the game from a completely different point of view. He had said: “The biggest learning for me is to understand the game from a different point of view, a different culture, a different way of thinking about it compared to how the game is spoken about, thought about and coached in England or perhaps my growing up age in South Africa.”
Ahead of their match against the Netherlands, Afghanan’s assant coach Raees Ahmadzai has spoken at length on the refugee crisis in Pakan and it is for the Afghan people that this team is playing.

“It bleeds my heart to see the situation in Pakan. I was born in a refugee camp in Peshawar. I started playing cricket in the refugee camp with the tennis ball. The life at the refugee camp is very tough. It is a very restricted life. You are not allowed to step outside the camp. There are lots of restrictions. No proper clothes, no food, no water supply. We always want to do something for our soil, for our country. And we are fortunate that we are doing something,” he told The Indian Express.