Afghanistan's journey continues to inspire

Afghanistan are in town, getting ready to play their biggest game yet. Their 2015 ICC World Cup debut has already been the stuff of legends, but now they take on Australia. At the WACA. In five years, Afghanistan's cricket team has raised its profile exponentially. From their stirring win in the ICC Division Five tournament, to making a dream debut at the World T20 in 2010, to beating Pakistan in the Asian Games semi-final in China, to beating Bangladesh in the Asia Cup last year, everything they have done is heroic.

In anticipation of their team's arrival in Perth, I revisit the evocative 2012 documentary chronicling their journey, titled Out of the Ashes. It was at once moving as it was a terrific film. The filmmakers profile players who are still with the team, and once the team is at the ground training I am looking for the players, the stars of the movie.

Gulbadin Naib was only a young man then, more into bodybuilding than playing cricket. Walls adorned pictures of his heroes in the local gym in Kabul, where he worked out. "I still do but not that extensively. Only for fitness," he tells me. Australian players pass by and Gulbadin exchanges cold stares with them. He then resumes telling me his story.

"It was a great experience," he tells Cricbuzz, recalling the time the film was being shot. "You would know the other side of things because you saw the movie, but for us we were just starting our journey from the refugee camps in Peshawar. You know how it was in Afghanistan back then - war and everything destroyed - there was no cricket. People didn't like cricket and that's why we were in refugee camps in Pakistan. There was cricket everywhere and nothing else. Volleyball and football were the popular sports in Afghanistan back then.

"When I was studying there in school - I studied in a private English-medium school in Pakistan - there was a lot of cricket there. But little by little, the sport started gaining popularity," he says.

Gulbadin now plays a bit-part role in the team, and only started in the XI after allrounder Mirwais Ashraf was ruled out of the tournament through injury. But he has been with this team for the last five years, and reveals being dropped in 2010 was the toughest phase of his career.

"I've been part of this team since 2008 and we were participating in ICC Division Five events that time," he says. "It was a crucial time for our team because it was a challenge for us. If not winning, we were making the finals of every tournament - gradually moved up to Divisions Four, Three Two and One. We didn't qualify for the 2011 World Cup so it was a difficult journey for us. Then I wasn't part of the team for two years before coming back in 2010 for the Asian Games. I was very excited to be part of that journey, always trying hard to convince the coach and captain in training by showing my skills."

While they did make their debut at the World T20, people sat up and took notice of this team from the frontiers when they took giant leap during the Asian Games in Guangzhou later that year. Players like Nawroz Mangal, Asghar Stanikzai and Shapoor Zadran were making waves in a tournament that had been boycotted by Asian powerhouse India. In the semi-finals, an under-strength Pakistan were handed a shock defeat by their northern neighbours, perhaps the story of the sport's debut at the Asiad. Bangladesh ended up winning gold, but Afghanistan won much more than that.

"It was the first time cricket was being played at the Asian Games, and it was a good tournament for us," Gulbadin says. "Everything went perfectly throughout the competition, even though we played teams like Pakistan and Bangladesh for the first time. We lost in the final to Bangladesh but it was a good challenge for us. There was television coverage - it's completely different when you get into the top level. It was all about improving one step at a time, and you can see that happening in the 2015 World Cup."

Former Pakistan captain Rashid Latif had pioneered Afghanistan's cause in the Asian Games, but it was under Taj Malik that the film showcases the team taking their first steps into the spotlight.

"The time under our first coach was very good," he says. "We didn't have any experience back then and we would not participate in big tournaments but only in the Asian Cricket Council events. It slowly built up the strength of our team, we grew up playing those events but we weren't playing the big teams then.

"After Taj Malik, we played under Kabir Khan and since then everything has changed. We were introduced to professionalism - we got fitter, we knew how many hours we were supposed to sleep ahead of a match next day, how we could prepare ourselves. Everything has totally changed."

Afghanistan's stirring win over Scotland - their first in ICC Cricket World Cup history - is the team's first step towards bigger things in world cricket after making a late yet moving entry into the sport less than a decade ago. "I wouldn't say it felt like we won the World Cup. Our aim is to qualify for the quarter-finals, and we already played against Australia in Sharjah in 2012 before the T20 World Cup, so I hope we can give a good fight to them. Inshallah we can do better than last time."

Despite fighting a constant battle of being noticed, Afghanistan's players have beaten the elements time and again, charting their way through a rocky path. Gulbadin poses for a picture for me before joining up with his mates on the field, where Australia captain Michael Clarke greets them and joins the group, shoulder to shoulder for the cameras. They aren't just part of a documentary anymore. They have been accepted.