Gunfire And Crackers: Celebrations In Kabul As Afghanistan Stun Pakistan In World Cup

The Afghanistan cricket team secured a historic victory over Pakistan in the Cricket World Cup 2023 on Monday, beating the former champions by 8 wickets to revive their campaign. While the defeat leaves Pakistan's semi-final hopes hinging, Afghanistan truly lived up to their reputation of giant killers, having already stunned defending champions England in the tournament. The depth of Afghanistan's first-ever ODI win against Pakistan can be understood by the celebratory videos that have emerged from back home in Kabul. Firecrackers and gunfire could easily be seen in the capital as the Afghans celebrated the historic moment in their relatively young cricketing history.

As per an AFP report, the win was greeted with celebratory gunfire, cheers, and fireworks across the Afghan capital Kabul for at least 15 minutes after the match concluded. The victory for Afghanistan comes at a time of tense political and diplomatic relations between the two neighbours.

Here are some of the videos that have been shared on social media, claiming to be from Kabul:

The celebrations in Afghanistan. pic.twitter.com/7d040PgQgM

It was truly a historic win for Afghanistan. First, 18-year-old leg-spinner Noor Ahmad took 3-49 on his World Cup debut, including opposing captain Babar Azam and master run-getter Mohammad Rizwan.

Then 21-year-old opening batsmen Ibrahim Zadran, with 87, and Rahmanullah Gurbaz, who hit 65, piled up 130 for the first wicket to set the platform for a stunning eight-wicket victory.

"I think the two opening batters that we have are very, very exceptionally talented young players and the sky's the limit for both of them," said former England batsman Trott.

"They're different types of players and my message to them is just keep growing your own game and play your own way.

"We saw tonight how well they can play and how much pressure they can put on opposition bowlers, world-class bowlers as well."

With AFP inputs