Weren’t you once in the national Under-17 squad?
Yes, Khaleqdad and I once organized a short 15-day tour to Mohali. Our U-17 team went and had training and a tournament there. We made that team jointly. In that team we had Karim, Nabi, Hamid, Noor Ali, Samiullah who are all in the national team now. I joined for those 15 days and I really enjoyed it. There was a lot of training involved for that.
When did Afghanistan first open up to cricket?
I think it was in 1996 when the World Cup was in Pakistan. There was a lot of cricket in Peshawar and in school everyday there were matches and so I learnt cricket there. I love to watch Ricky Ponting play and previously it was Brian Lara. Even at home my son who is 2 ½ asks me to turn off the TV because I watch so much cricket. I love to watch international cricket and it helped me learn a lot of things like by listening to the commentary. I learned things like the shots hit by batsmen and many other things about the game by watching international cricket.
![]() |
Afghanistan, 2010 ACC Trophy Elite |
When did you first start realise that Afghanistan could be a good cricketing team?
It was on the Under-17 tour. They had a lot of passion for their country. They wanted to play and do everything well when they wore the national jersey. Our team has a lot of courage. From Division Five we knew we could go higher. We hate to lose. Losing hurts even more than the joy of winning and I think that is a good sign for a successful team.
![]() |
Basheer receives a token of esteem from Hong Kong's assistant coach Sher Lama during the ACC Twenty20 Cup 2009 in Kuwait |
How do you rate the team now?
We are a nation that can compete in the 50-overs World Cup, not just T20. We beat Ireland on the way here to the Twenty20 World Cup. Ireland prepare themselves very well and it was a good chase of 134 against them in the Twenty20 Qualifier Final because they are a strong bowling and fielding side. And in the WorldT20 we were with India and South Africa, two top-ranked teams in the world. It is a good experience for our players to play against such top-class cricketers.
After this tournament the players will want to work harder and compete strongly against any other team. I believe they will now easily beat teams from the ACC as well as the ones in the World Cricket Leagues. These games will give our boys a lot of courage because they now know they have played against the best in the world. What we need is to arrange a few more international matches to train the team and raise their performance.
Next Page | “There is a lot of talent in but unfortunately there is no development of the game.”