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‘Historic Day for Our People’ – Afghan Says as Afghanistan Earns First Test Victory
Asghar Afghan, the Afghanistan captain, detailed just how important and joyous their seven-wicket triumph over Ireland was in the one-off Test in Dehradun on Monday, 18 March.
It was their maiden Test victory, in just their second ever Test – the latest feat by a team that’s made a habit of it. Apart from Australia, who won in their maiden Test, only England and Pakistan have secured a Test win within two matches.
Just how much the victory meant was summed up by Afghan. “Happy for today, it’s a very historic day for Afghanistan, for Afghanistan people, for our team, for our cricket board. We are very happy,” he said.
“When [we play] a lot of Test matches, we mature. Nowadays, we’re playing a lot in Afghanistan first-class cricket. Before, it was three-day, two-day cricket. Now we’re playing first-class cricket.
“It was our dream to play Test cricket. It was just our second Test and we won the game. I’ll give a lot of credit to our bowlers, especially Rashid Khan, Waqar (Salamkheil), Yamin (Ahmadzai), and (Mohammad) Nabi. They bowled very well, on a wicket that was good for batting.”
Apart from the bowling quartet, one of Afghanistan’s stars was Rahmat Shah. He put behind poor form in the ODIs – he scored just one half-century in five outings – to score two in as many innings in Test whites.
He was unfortunate to miss out on a century by two runs in the first innings, and having done the hard work in the second, scoring a 122-ball 76, he was dismissed with just three runs required to seal victory.
However, during the course of his knock he displayed good temperament for Tests, and that is something that bodes well for Afghanistan. “I’d like to congratulate the country for this win,” he said after winning the Player of the Match award.
“There was a difference in the pitches – the ODI wickets were suitable for spin, this was better for batting. I stayed at the wicket, that was important. We played session by session, and tried to win the match, but I’d like to give credit to the bowlers, they bowled really well.”
As for Ireland, there were some smiles, despite being beaten within four days in their second ever Test. Their captain, William Porterfield, reminded everyone that quite a few of their players were playing only their second Test ever while the rest of the team – five players, to be precise – were making their debuts.
Despite that, they troubled Afghanistan considerably, and had they been able to do better with the bat in the first innings, they might yet have been able to change the eventual result.
“It’s obviously the first innings that went wrong for us,” he said at the post-match presentation. “It was big toss to win. Any multi-day game, the first innings you got to capitalise on,” he said.
“If you had done that, batted remotely like we batted in the second innings, it could have been a completely different game. Then you’re talking about potentially chasing upwards of 280 to 300, which could have been a completely different story.”
But that being said, Porterfield wasn’t making excuses. Afghanistan bossed them with both bat and ball in the crucial stages of the match, and he gave credit where it was due. “Take nothing away from Afghanistan,” he said. “They played very well throughout the whole game, and came out deserved winners.
“You want the lads to kick on and make big contributions. We didn’t do that in the first innings. We’re obviously looking to come back into the game from that. Once Afghanistan got past us, they never really let us [back].”
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IEA’s foreign ministry summons Pakistan’s charge d’affaires over airstrike
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) has summoned Pakistan’s charge d’affaires over Islamabad’s airstrike inside Afghanistan in the early hours of Monday morning.
The ministry presented the charge d’affaires with a letter of protest and advised the new civilian government to curb anti-Afghanistan actions and to not ‘complicate’ relations between the two Muslim countries.
The ministry also condemned the airstrikes, in Paktika and Khost, and warned Islamabad it has a long history of fighting foreign powers and that it will not tolerate military action on its territory.
The ministry said in a statement that Pakistan’s new civilian government and the people of Pakistan should not allow some circles to complicate the relations between the two neighboring Muslim countries.
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Bayat Foundation steps in to help needy families over Ramadan
Dozens of needy families in Herat province received much needed Ramadan aid packages on Monday from Bayat Foundation.
According to Bayat Foundation officials, a transparent assessment was carried out on people in need before the aid was distributed.
The packages included flour, rice and cooking oil. The foundation will carry this initiative through to other provinces during the holy month of Ramadan.
Officials said poverty and unemployment in the country has resulted in more people needing assistance.
Recipients of this aid welcomed the initiative and called on other organizations to also help the needy.
Over the past 20 years, the Bayat Foundation has carried out countless campaigns to help the needy across the country. The foundation is also actively involved in education and health – with the aim of helping the needy in Afghanistan.
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Border forces target military posts along Durand Line in response to airstrikes
The Ministry of National Defense of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) said Monday morning that border forces targeted Pakistan “military centers” along the Durand Line in response to airstrikes against civilian homes in Paktika and Khost provinces.
In the early hours of Monday morning, Pakistan carried out airstrikes inside Afghanistan, hitting residential houses in Spera district in Khost and Bermel district in Paktika.
At least eight people were killed – five women and three children.
Inayatullah Khwarazmi, the defense ministry’s spokesperson said on X: “In response to this aggression, the border forces targeted Pakistan’s military centers along the Durand line with heavy weapons.”
Khwarazmi added that the country’s defense and security forces are ready to respond to any aggressive actions and will defend their territorial integrity.
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