The Chief Executive of Afghanistan was here, so was the Indian Union Sports Minister. Never has a cricket ground in the recent past seen so many suited and booted people out in the field, officials from the BCCI, hosts KSCA as also the Afghanistan Cricket Board, all wanting their piece of history before the players took over. But over in the Chinnaswamy Stadium stands, roughly 25 fans from different parts of Afghanistan, got their moment too, as they watched their nation enter the annals of Test cricket. Some, in fact, asked their parents to send them some extra money so that they could get to Bangalore to be a part of history, albeit from the stands.

Extra efforts
"We knew we had to watch this match, so we asked our families to send us extra money to travel to Bangalore and they obliged," said Rahimulla from Khost, currently a student in Hyderabad. His friend Anees Haleem, 22, a third year BA student from Osmania University in Hyderabad, who hails from Nagahan in Afghanistan, said he couldn't hold back when their national anthem was played.