The tenth season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) brought a delight for the Afghanistan cricket team as five players from the national side are included in the auction of this season. Out of the players like Captain Mohamad Asghar Stanikzai, Mohammad Nabi, Mohammad Shahzad Mohammadi, Rashid Khan Arman and Dawlat Zadran, Mohammad Nabi became the first chap to be sold.
Followed by Nabi, Rashid Khan became the second Afghan to get sold.
Mohammad Nabi and Rashid Khan were bought by the Sunrisers Hyderabad for Rs 30 lakhs and Rs 4 crores respectively. As soon as Richard Medley knocked the hammer down with urging ‘Mohammad Nabi, sold’: that moment brought enormous joys for Afghanistan as it happened for the first time in IPL history that an Afghan cricketer will be playing in India’s most favourite cricket tournament.
HISTORY MADE at #IPLAuction – Mohammad Nabi becomes the first Afghanistan cricketer to join VIVO IPL. He will play for @SunRisers pic.twitter.com/Y4sanD86Ev
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) February 20, 2017
Mohammad Nabi is sold to @SunRisers for INR 30 lacs. First player from Afghanistan #IPLAuction
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) February 20, 2017
Hailing from Kandahar, these few people made a herculean effort to first get the visas done and then come to India to root for their national cricket team during the T20I WC in India last year. The story is, they were apparently holding placards reading: “Afghan cricketers will add new flavour not just to IPL but also to India-Afghanistan relations.”
To cover all bases ahead of the IPL extravaganza, all the Afghani players have already started doing some creative pre-production work by curating posters which read ‘IPL’ and ‘Afghan players in India will make the India-Afghan relations better.’
Hats-off to the thought of generating bonhomie and the peace between the neighbours. This proves that cricket can play a pivotal role in bridging ties as well.
