Nabi is Afghanistan’s Afridi!

He was born in Pakistan, grew up in a refugee camp in Peshawar before shifting to Loger across the border in Afghanistan.

Nabi is Afghanistan's Afridi!

He was born in Pakistan, grew up in a refugee camp in Peshawar before shifting to Loger across the border in Afghanistan. But over the last two years, he has been travelling extensively all over the world, from England to Argentina to Tanzania and now to South Africa, to pursue what he loves most and does best play cricket.

Welcome to the world of Mohammad Nabi.

When this writer met Nabi on the sidelines of India's last one-dayer in England at Lord's on September 8, 2007, the hardworking youngster training at the prestigious Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) on a scholarship, was expectedly as shy as any youngster who was new to touring.

But as the all-rounder spoke ahead of their campaign-opener against Denmark, it wasn't surprising to hear a confident voice.

"It's been a long journey over the last two years," Nabi told MiD DAY. "I had told you that we will surely qualify for the 2015 World Cup, if not 2011. Now that we are so close to securing a berth in the 2011 edition. We are hoping everything falls into place over the next fortnight."

Nabi and his teammates have every right to be optimistic. They have so far conquered the ICC World Cricket League Division 5 in Jersey (May 2008), then the Division 4 tournament in Tanzania (October 2008) and then Division 3 Buenos Aires (January 2009).

But the path hasn't been easy for the Afghanistan players. Due to the instability in their country, every member of the team is used to confronting terrorist attacks. Ironically, their preparatory camp for the SA tournament scheduled to be held in Lahore was affected by the terror attack on the Sri Lankans in Lahore on March 3.
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"We were scheduled to reach Lahore on the evening of March 3 for a preparatory camp," Nabi said. "But we had to reschedule our camp in Peshawar before flying to SA."

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