Gunfire as Afghans celebrate first win

Kandahar- Hundreds of jubilant Afghan cricket fans flooded onto the streets of major cities Thursday, dancing, waving flags and firing AK-47s in celebration at their team’s historic World Cup win over Scotland.

Afghanistan, making their World Cup debut, secured a nailbiting one-wicket win over the Scots in Dunedin, chasing down the 211 target with just three balls to spare.

The “Blue Tigers” had slumped to 97-7, but a brilliant 96 by Samiullah Shenwari took the Afghans to the brink of a sensational victory.

In Kandahar, the southern city once famous as the Taliban heartland and now a bastion of cricket, ecstatic fans danced in the streets and fired off their weapons -- a traditional Afghan gesture of celebration. “After Afghanistan lost the seventh wicket, I smashed my phone in anger and cursed my team. Now they have won, I cannot believe it, but I am very happy,” Abdul Samad told AFP.

Another fan, Khalil Ahmad, said he feared the worst as the team’s batsmen crumbled. “I was watching the game from the very first ball, when Afghanistan lost its seven wickets, I was very disappointed, I thought that’s it and turned off the television,” he told AFP.

“Later, I saw Shenwari was playing really well, and I knew as long as he stayed in we had a chance of winning. Now I do not have any words to express my feelings.” There was more dancing and celebratory gunfire in the eastern city of Jalalabad, where university student Mirwais Rahman gave his classmates an unexpected surprise. “I was in my class, but was not listening to the teacher, I had an earplug listening to the cricket on the radio,” he said.

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