Afghanistan's Asian Games silver has come despite the war

“I am happy with today’s silver. It means a lot to all our people back home, who are badly affected with the war,” Nabi said. “Even though we lost the gold today, this silver medal will give enough inspiration to our administrators to start building playing facilities so that more and more young players could be attracted toward this game.”

Afghanistan has never hosted an international match. It has only one ground with a proper turf pitch in Kabul, but there are some concrete pitches in Jalalabad. According to coach Rashid Latif, a former international cricketer from Pakistan, the cities of Khost, Kunar, Kabul and Jalalabad attract thousands of players. But there are no proper, established clubs due to a lack of facilities.

The BCCI refused to entertain the possibility of sending a team to Guangzhou, citing the international calendar. It’s an argument rubbished by other teams in the fray at the Asian Games, and there is enough suspicion that the decision drew from a resistance to the anti-doping whereabouts clause. Whether that be the case or not, the board owes a more responsive explanation to these questions. Why did they not field an India A side, or even an under-21 side? How does this disdain for a possible Asian Games medal square with the larger campaign to have T20 included as an Olympic sport?