Nabi reminisces about Afghanistan's journey

Sixteen wins, four draws, one loss. In three editions of the Intercontinental Cup, that is Afghanistan's enviable record. Their win percentage of 76 is the highest for any team in the competition. Now, as Afghanistan prepare to bid goodbye to the tournament and take the plunge into Test cricket, allrounder Mohammad Nabi nostalgically looked back at that era in Afganistan's history.

"That announcement of Test status is a big achievement in Afghanistan cricket," Nabi told ESPNcricinfo ahead of Afghanistan's final I-Cup clash against UAE in Abu Dhabi, in which a win would give them their second title. "If you go back, we started in 2002 and now we are a Test nation. In my opinion, I'm very happy to be a part of this journey.

"We'll be playing against Zimbabwe maybe next year for our first Test match. That will be a big game as well. If we win the four-day title, that will be a part of our history that we won the I-Cup title twice. It will mean a lot to win the last game."

Afghanistan have steamrolled through the current tournament, recording four innings wins and a fifth by 201 runs over Papua New Guinea despite being behind by 151 runs after the first innings. Such emphatic displays are far from how they began moving up the Associate ladder.

In 2008, at the World Cricket League Division Five in Jersey, Afghanistan's first ICC tournament appearance outside Asia, they were bowled out for 76 in 20.2 overs in a group-stage loss to Singapore. In a scrappy final against Jersey, they won by two wickets chasing 81 in May 2008.

But after securing ODI status the following April at the World Cup Qualifier in South Africa, where they scored key wins over Ireland and Scotland, Afghanistan also had the joint privilege of exposure to four-day cricket in the Intercontinental Cup.

One of Afghanistan's greatest hallmarks over the last decade has been their quick adaptability to every challenge thrown their way. Just over 15 months after their erratic batting displays in Jersey, Afghanistan were far from overwhelmed on I-Cup debut in Zimbabwe, where they piled on 427 in the first innings, and secured a lead of 77 in a drawn match. It was perhaps a harbinger of their future successes in the country.

"It's been quite a good journey, the last six or seven years, starting from the 2010 I-Cup games," Nabi said. "We played our first game against Zimbabwe A and we enjoyed that. It's quite good memories over the years, quite good wins as well."

Indeed, Afghanistan have had quite a few good wins over the years in the I-Cup. After the debut against Zimbabwe, their fighting spirit came out in spades in their next three matches, when they recorded dramatic victories over Netherlands, Ireland and Canada respectively. On each occasion, they batted last.

At Amstelveen, they fell behind in the first innings by 74 runs after being bowled out for 107. Shapoor Zadran's new-ball burst then set up a target of 207, which the last-wicket pair of Samiullah Shenwari and Hamid Hassan held their nerve to seal Afghanistan's first win in the Intercontinental Cup. Against Ireland in Sri Lanka, they refused to be cowed by Ireland's first-innings total of 405, scoring 474 in reply with the help of five half-centuries. Then, on the final day, with the match seemingly headed for a draw, Dawlat Ahmadzai and Nabi's sharp spells set up a modest final-session target of 134 in 34 overs that was run down with 15 balls to spare.

But the icing on the cake came in Sharjah in February 2010. Afghanistan had just won the qualifying tournament in Dubai a week earlier to secure their maiden World T20 berth. But they were brought down from that euphoria when Canada put up 566 in their first innings and bowled out Afghanistan for 264. Despite a lead of 302, Canada did not enforce the follow-on, having spent 79 overs on the field. Instead, they batted another 40 overs to set a target of 494.

Though Karim Sadiq and Noor Ali Zadran had steered Afghanistan to 40 for 0 by stumps, knocking off another 454 in 98 overs on the final day seemed improbable. But Mohammad Shahzad's unbeaten double-century took Afghanistan to a historic win. That chase of 494 remains the highest in I-Cup history.

Nabi was with him for most of it, and played an integral role, scoring 80 in a brisk fourth-wicket stand of 178 in 29.3 overs. In near deja vu circumstances to the Ireland win, Shahzad hit the winning runs with 2.2 overs to spare. The Canada win ranks as one of Nabi's favourite moments.

"That was a big memory for me, chasing 500 runs in one day," Nabi said. "In my opinion, that was a big achievement. Also we won [our] first I-Cup competition, won against Scotland. That was also a big memory for us.

"Nothing like that happened before that, chasing 500 runs in the four-day games. The I-Cup final title against Scotland, that was the first time we played four-day games and won."

Now is the chance for them to create one final I-Cup winning memory. Nabi is one of the three remaining holdovers - with Noor Ali Zadran and captain Asghar Stanikzai - from the team that once stumbled to a double-digit total against Singapore. To say they've come a long way since is putting it mildly.

Nabi says the work they've done in four-day cricket over the past eight years should erase any stereotypes that may have been born from their limited-overs struggles during their international infancy. A second I-Cup title to go with it would be an emphatic stamp on Afghanistan's Associate ledger as they transition into Test cricket.

"People think that Afghanistan just plays T20 game well, but I know Afghanistan team plays four-day and Test very well because of quality bowlers, quality spinners and quality fast bowlers as well," Nabi said. "We have the kind of batsmen that can play four-day and Tests as well."

"We already did a lot of things in the last two seasons of I-Cup games. We won one title the first time we played in the I-Cup [in 2009-10], second event we were the runner-up. This time we are also on top. Inshallah, if we win against UAE, then maybe we'll be the champion this time as well."