Currently and these weeks, the cricket World Cup is being played in India. And this is where the sensation occurs.

Afghanistan, of all countries, is on its way to performing a very small sporting miracle. Without many Norwegians getting it.

In contrast to one or two billion people elsewhere in the world.

There are actually places in the world of sport where the names Braathen, Bråthen and Ingebrigtsen don’t mean everything when we discuss this phenomenon we call sport.

Haaland is not a name that evokes more than a raised eyebrow or two.

Instead, all attention is on the sport whose matches are the most watched this year around the world. Before El Clasico. Before the Super Bowl.

Fugum’s feelings

The former colleagues I mentioned also definitely have names. Her name is actually Arve Fuglum. So he asked me about this sensation.

Fuglum was known as a long-time football commentator, and Lillestrøm had beaten Vålerenga the day before. But everyone does it – with all due respect – every day.

The fact that HamKam lost at home to Haugesund is also unlikely to surprise many people south of Stange.

It could also be about the WC final in rugby, which is also not a sport that gets enough attention in this country. But South Africa’s dramatic win over New Zealand was far from sensational.

What didn’t immediately catch my eye was Fuglum’s true passion.

He is among the few people to commentate cricket on Norwegian national television. The first time this happened was in 2004, with Tariq Mir. He later also commentated on cricket along with the current president of cricket, Yousuf Gilani.

Now he could tell me that Afghanistan had beaten Pakistan for the first time during the ongoing World Cup in India.

Huge interest in India

The country with the most populous population in the world has been in a more or less tense state during the six weeks this championship lasted. Not least because his country of origin has been absolutely incredible so far. India have won all their 8 matches.

This created an atmosphere among India’s estimated 1.4 billion people – one where one suspects that most were engaged in their cricketing heroes.

A total of 10 countries participate in the WC. Everyone plays against everyone. The top four will advance to the semifinals.

The final takes place on Sunday 19 November in Ahmedabadin the stadium named after the current Prime Minister, Narendra Modi.

Similar things happen in democratic countries with the largest populations.

The audience capacity is quite impressive, namely 132,000 people. There was not a single empty seat when the final started in the morning Norwegian time. With India as one of the teams, everyone believes.

The aforementioned Norwegian cricket president, Yousuf Gilani, then also compared his home country to Manchester City in terms of sovereignty – “where you also have Haaland, Salah and Ronaldo in the team”.

However, interest in national sports is not only great in India. The same thing also applies to Pakistan, Bangladesh, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Australia and several other participating countries.

Including Afghanistan which is currently in trouble.

The match between neighbors and arch-rivals India and Pakistan early in the World Cup is said to be the single match, whatever the sport, in the world to attract the largest number of spectators in 2023.

Cricket is coming home

The only country today that doesn’t want to talk too much about its heroes is England. The defending champions will soon go home in disgrace after just one win in seven matches. The British Lions have never performed worse at a World Cup.

And then the sports headlines in England are not characterized by Premier League heroes, but rather crisis headlines – which the British press does very well to add – as well as in-depth analysis of the England national team failing to live up to expectations. according to expectations. We’ve seen it before.

Everything for Afghanistan

Instead, it was Afghanistan who was the biggest positive surprise of the tournament. They didn’t just beat England in the World Cup for the first time. They had not achieved more than one win in total in a World Cup context until this year, and that was in 2015.

Now they have four.

With a win against Australia on Tuesday, Afghanistan is just one win away from securing a sensational berth in the semifinals.

Very few Norwegians understand wickets, runs and innings. I myself go that far.

But we can all understand the unique importance of sporting achievements to a society that has had to focus on everything but sports for decades.

And from a small country that no one trusted, it finally managed to fight against the biggest country.

Therefore, we must all now support Afghanistan. With certain caveats.

Closed to women

In the first period of Taliban rule in the country, national sports were banned for a long time. After the Islamic movement took power again in 2021, many feared that something similar would happen again. But in reality this is not the case.

As long as you are not a woman, remember. Afghanistan’s entire women’s national team had to leave the country when the Taliban took power again, and all matches are still banned for women. .

But among the men’s players, they have successfully executed a domestic series – and used this as the basis for creating a stronger national team, literally, than they have ever had before. Even though preparations for the World Cup were mostly carried out in India, Pakistan and Dubai.

In a world where sport means nothing, for a few hours this WC match will be thought to mean everything.

As will happen this Tuesday in the heat of Mumbai. When Afghanistan can achieve something that its country has never achieved before.

And we here in the north should probably try to put aside the fuss and fluoride testing and rather just hope for another thrill in a sport we don’t understand at all.

If it doesn’t rain, remember. Cricket is one of the two world sports that cannot be played in the rain. The other is tennis. Then you know it too.

And for those who end up wondering about something very important we just mentioned:

The ladies played their WC last winter. Australia became world champions after defeating host country South Africa in the final.

Afghanistan is clearly not participating.