With the IPL just a day away, Cape Town is the place to be in South Africa this week. The Afghanistan cricket team have zig-zagged many a mile in the last few months to reach this country, but sitting in Johannesburg — a couple of hours away from this south-western tip — they seem to have almost gone the distance, but not quite.

Afghanistan’s dream of playing in the 2011 World Cup has almost been dashed in the ICC qualifiers, but the players are still nursing hopes of stepping on the field alongside their hero Sachin Tendulkar one day. And even as the players get ready to put their minds into the last Super Eights game against Namibia, their hearts are beating for a future in the IPL.

Hamid Hasan, Afghanistan’s young all-rounder, takes pains to stress that players from his country are tailor-made for T20 format.

“If you look at us, you will know that we’re well built and rely on strength. Smaller formats suit our aggressive approach to cricket. In the last few months, our team’s performance has caught the world’s attention, and I hope some of our performances are also taken into consideration for the IPL,” says the 21-year-old all-rounder who engineered one of the ICC qualifiers’ biggest upset with his five-wicket haul against Ireland.

“I’m hoping that someone from Kings XI can call me for trials and have a look at me,” he says, pointing out that the Punjab outfit is short in the pace department.

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