Why Afghanistan must thank 'Guru' Pakistan for the historic World Cup win!

New Delhi: Whatever historic happened in Chennai last night in the ongoing ICC Cricket World Cup is just a repeat of David and Goliath's story again on the field. 

But in this unprecedented cricketing saga, champion Goliath’s backyard was once a playground for the believer David. 

It was an extraordinary victory for Afghanistan. However, this war-torn country must thank its friend Pakistan for this unthinkable journey in the World of cricket.

After the third defeat, former champion Pakistan's future in the World Cup seems darker.

Afghanistan had created a sensation after beating current champion England a few days ago, and last night, it defeated ‘Friend’ by 8 wickets with six balls remaining.

In 2001, the US invaded Afghanistan to eliminate the Taliban. Following that, thousands of Afghans took refuge in camps across the border in Pakistan.

This is where the current cricket of Afghanistan was born.

Though cricket was a way of life for some of its neighbours, this game was non-existent for the Afghans before that.

Afghan star spinner Rashid Khan was born in the restive Nangarhar province of Afghanistan in 1998. His family fled the bloody battles between US-led allied forces and the Taliban and became refugees across the Pakistani border.

As a kid, Rashid honed his skills with tennis balls in cricket he played in camps which helped him a lot to develop himself into a professional cricketer.

Rashid is not alone on this list. Mohammad Nabi is also one of them. Many former Afghan cricketers are the product of the amateur cricket they used to play in the refugee camps and streets of Pakistan, with Pakistanis.

Afghanistan's two historic victories in this World Cup will now help groom future cricketers in Afghanistan itself.

“I think for the country, I think it just shows the amount of talent in the side for the country again, as when we were fortunate enough to beat England”, Afghanistan Coach Jonathan Trott said after a win against Pakistan. "It inspires another generation of players to pick up a cricket bat and a cricket ball and work on their fielding and their fitness. We see that the likes of the guys are very fit today, fielding for 50 overs and then Ibrahim batting for 35—you know, close to 40 overs. This is great. Great credit to him.”

According to Wikipedia, the brief of David and Goliath's story from the Bible goes as follows: “Goliath, a heavily armed Philistine giant, challenged Saul for 40 days to send out a man to fight him. No one would face this warrior until David, armed only with a sling and stones, volunteered. David hit the giant in the forehead with a stone and killed him."