It’s been less than 15 years since it was formed, but Afghanistan’s cricket side has quickly stepped up to the world stage.
In Australia for the ICC World Cup, the Afghan team has shown it can overcome the turmoil of its conflict-ravaged country to play world-class cricket.
The team, partly born from refugees, beat Scotland in a narrow victory last week, giving fans hope for its future.
But whatever the team’s success, the Afghan fans at home and around world are proud of what their team has achieved.
Australian-born Afghan Russell Frahmand said the team’s success to date had inspired hope.
“For all the Afghans around the world, it shows that maybe there is hope of rebuilding the country and establishing peace and one way is through this sport,” he said.
“I hear that the Afghan army, the government forces, everyone is so happy.
"You hear about the kids playing on the street - they don't have a proper bat and ball, but they're playing with what they can.”
"For all the Afghans around the world, it shows that maybe there is hope of rebuilding the country and establishing peace and one way is through this sport."
Mr Frahmand’s uncle Hamed said the team's success had unified Afghans who are often divided along ethnic lines, despite it being a relatively new sport for the country.
He only picked up the game when he came to Australia decades ago; soccer was his game in Afghanistan.
“When I came to Australia, I saw this big fuss about cricket,” he said.
“So I started watching it, and even my mum started to know about the players’ names and how many runs they got so we got together mum, dad, brothers and sisters and followed it and we all really enjoyed it.”
He said that there are now Afghan teams in Australia who take on teams from their home country’s neighbours like Pakistan, where many Afghan refugees learned the game during the 1990s before taking it back to Afghanistan in 2001.
“So we are quite unified, and all we think about is cricket and that’s how it should be,” Mr Frahmand said.
“We are all human beings, so let’s just enjoy cricket."
