Nawroz Mangal

Happy new year khan flower (نوروز غل جنگل ; born 28 November 1984) is a former Afghanistan cricketer. Mangal is former captain of the Afghanistan national cricket team. In January 2017 he retired from international cricket and became the national chief selector for Afghanistan.[1]

Nowroz Mangal

Personal information
Full name	Nowroz Khan Mangal
Born	28 November 1984 Kabul, Afghanistan
Batting	Right-handed
Bowling	Right-arm off break
Role	Top order batsman
Relations	Ihsanullah (brother)
International information
National side	Afghanistan (2001–2017)
ODI debut (cap 8)	19 April 2009 v Scotland
Last ODI	1 October 2016 v Bangladesh
ODI shirt no.	48
T20I debut (cap 7)	1 February 2010 v Ireland
Last T20I	20 January 2017 v Ireland
T20I shirt no.	48
Career statistics
Competition ODI T20I FC LA Matches 49 32 14 73 Runs scored 1,139 505 832 1,696 Batting average 27.11 18.03 37.81 26.09 100s/50s 2/4 0/2 1/5 2/7 Top score 129 65* 168 129 Balls bowled 293 60 162 485 Wickets 8 4 1 10 Bowling average 29.37 20.00 105.00 40.40 5 wickets in innings 0 0 0 0 10 wickets in match n/a n/a 0 n/a Best bowling 3/37 3/23 1/34 3/35 Catches/stumpings 19/– 16/– 13/– 25/–
Source: Cricinfo, 21 January 2017
Medal record Representing  Afghanistan Men's Cricket Asian Games 2010 Guangzhou Team

Early career

Born in Kabul, Afghanistan, Mangal spent much of his early years in refugee camps in neighbouring Pakistan with his family, fleeing from the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and the subsequent Civil War that followed the Soviet withdrawal. It was in the camps that Mangal, like many of his teammates, was introduced to cricket. The War in Afghanistan saw the US Army put an end to Taliban rule of Afghanistan in 2001 and soon after Mangal returned to the country. In the aftermath, the Afghanistan national cricket team was founded.[2]

Mangal was spotted by then Afghanistan coach Taj Malik. Mangal's father tried to stop him playing, citing the sport as not being a living. Malik went to the province of Khost on the Pakistani border to speak to with Mangal's family, telling him: "He will be great". Malik stayed the night pleading with him, and by the morning, convinced him to allow Mangal to play.[3] Mangal made his debut for Afghanistan against Nowshehra in the 2001 Quaid-e-Azam Trophy (Grade II).[4] He made his international debut for Afghanistan against Oman in the 2004 ACC Trophy. During the tournament, Mangal was Afghanistan's leading run scorer with 271 runs.[5] It was the first time the team participated in the competition and they progressed to the quarter-finals where they lost to Kuwait.[2]

Playing career

In 2007, Mangal was appointed the captain of the national side, taking up the post against Lower Dir District in the 2007/8 Inter-District Senior Tournament. Mangal led the Afghan cricket team that in under a year won the World Cricket League Division Five, Division Four and Division Three, therefore promoting them to Division Two and allowing them to take part in the 2009 ICC World Cup Qualifier. In that tournament he led Afghanistan to 5th place and ODI status and promotion to World Cricket League Division One. Mangal led Afghanistan to victory over Scotland in their first ever ODI, with himself claiming the winning wicket of John Blain.[6]

He captained Afghanistan in their debut, and his debut first class match in the Intercontinental Cup against a Zimbabwe XI in which Afghanistan drew the match. Mangal has subsequently led Afghanistan to victories over the Netherlands and Ireland in the tournament. Mangal made his maiden first-class fifty against Ireland with a score of 84.

In February 2010, Mangal made his Twenty20 International debut against Ireland, which Afghanistan lost by 5 wickets. Mangal led Afghanistan to victory in the 2010 ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier with figures of 3/23 as Afghanistan defeated Ireland by 8 wickets in the final. Afghanistan's victory qualified them to take part in the 2010 ICC World Twenty20. Following the tournament, Mangal led Afghanistan to an astonishing victory over Canada in the Intercontinental Cup. Set 494 to win, Mangal shared a 163 run partnership with Mohammad Shahzad in which he contributed 70 runs to the partnership as Afghanistan won the match by 6 wickets.[7]

In April 2010, Mangal led the side to victory in the 2010 ACC Trophy Elite, where Afghanistan defeated Nepal in the final by 95 runs, with Mangal himself claiming the winning wicket of Rahul Vishvakarma. He is the best Afganistani player.

Mangal led Afghanistan into the 2010 ICC World Twenty20, despite the team losing to Test nations India and South Africa, the team won many plaudits from cricket figures. As of October 2010, Mangal has led Afghanistan to the top of 2009–10 ICC Intercontinental Cup in Afghanistan's first season of playing first-class cricket.

He scored his maiden first-class century against Kenya in October 2010, making 168 runs before being run out by Elijah Otieno. His innings, along with the bowling of teammate Hameed Hasan, was instrumental in securing Afghanistan a 167 run victory.[8][9]

In November 2010 it was announced that all-rounder Mohammad Nabi would captain Afghanistan in the 2010 Asian Games twenty20 tournament in China later that month.[10] The Afghanistan Cricket Board released a statement that "We have played 16 one-day internationals but we could only win nine therefore we thought the burden of captaincy is too heavy on Nawroz and Nabi is the next best choice".[11] After causing an upset by beating Pakistan in the semi-finals of the games, Afghanistan lost the final to Bangladesh and finished with a silver medal.[12][13]

References

1. "Nawroz Mangal retires from international cricket". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 4 January 2017.
2. Refugee to role model for Afghan skipper, International Cricket Council, 15 February 2012, archived from the original on 16 February 2012, retrieved 16 February 2012
3. Times report on the Afghan cricket team
4. Nowshehra v Afghanistan (2001)
5. 2004 ACC Trophy batting records
6. Afghanistan v Scotland (2009)
7. Afghanistan v Canada (2010)
8. Kenya v Afghanistan, 2009–10 ICC Intercontinental Cup
9. Afghanistan storm into ICC Intercontinental Cup final
10. Mohammad Nabi replaces Mangal as T20 skipper for Asian Games, arghanistancricket.net, 7 November 2010, retrieved 16 February 2012
11. Momand, Ibrahim (7 November 2010), Mohammad Nabi named Afghanistan captain, Cricinfo, retrieved 8 November 2010
12. Bangladesh wins first Asian Games gold medal, BBC News, 26 November 2010, retrieved 16 February 2012
13. Mangal, Nawroz; Sarwat, Faraz (26 August 2011). "'Even those who don't understand cricket pray for our success'". Cricinfo. Retrieved 16 February 2012.

External links

• Nawroz Mangal at ESPNcricinfo
• Nawroz Mangal at CricketArchive (subscription required)