The Afghanistan cricket team has travelled across the globe and achieved several feats, but one dream of the team remains unfulfilled, that is to play an international match at their home.
The war-ravaged nation has never hosted a global fixture at Kabul, and the devastation has been so soul-shattering that they were forced to adopt cities abroad as home venues.
In line with that, Greater Noida, Dehradun, Lucknow in India, while Sharjah and Abu Dhabi in the UAE became their home bases at various times.
Speaking about it, skipper Rashid Khan wants people to know how welcoming the people of Afghanistan are and is also hopeful of playing an international cricket match on his soil.
“Yes, that`s bigger than the World Cup to be honest, for me and for the team and every individual. We play an international game in Afghanistan and then all these people will see how people back home in Afghanistan are, how they are welcoming players and how they are enjoying cricket and that`s something which is more than a dream to be playing international cricket in your own country,” he said.
He then cited an example of how cricket fans in India express their love towards their players. He also added that during the Indian Premier League (IPL) and ODI World Cup 2023, the Afghanistan team received immense support and love from the Indian cricket fans.
“When we play IPL here (in India), when we play an international game, we see how much their international stars are supported by the local fans and how much they give them love, like we get so much love, I am not saying we don`t get love here,” said the skipper.
“Whenever we play here, we get lots of love and support, especially playing in IPL and also the World Cup we played (2023), we haven`t felt like being away from Afghanistan. But when you play in your own country, it`s a kind of different feeling and the world will see the country Afghanistan as well, how beautiful it is. But hopefully, one day we make that possible for an international team to come and they play cricket there,” he added.
T20 World Cup 2026, AFG vs NZ: Match date and venue
In the ongoing T20 World Cup 2026, Afghanistan is all set to lock horns against New Zealand on February 8 at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.
(With PTI Inputs)
