PM Modi lauds 'historic' India-Afghanistan cricket match

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday lauded the sportsman spirit of cricket players from both India and Afghanistan, displayed during the 'historic' one-off Test match between the two teams on June 14.Addressing the nation in the 45th episode of his 'Mann Ki Baat' radio programme, Prime Minister Modi praised the Indian cricket team for their gesture during the Test match against Afghanistan.

"I will remember this first match as the Indian team did something exemplary to the whole world. What does a winning team do after receiving the trophy? The Indian team, while receiving the trophy, warmly invited the Afghanistan team which had played its first international match to pose together for photographs. This is an example of sportsmanship," the Prime Minister recalled.

Evoking Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani's earlier tweet, Prime Minister Modi said, "I remember Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani's words on Twitter tagging me along 'The people of Afghanistan are extremely, proud of our hero Rashid Khan. I'm also thankful to our Indian friends who created a platform for our players to showcase their skills'."

The Prime Minister also appreciated Rashid's performance against India and in this year's Indian Premier League (IPL) season and extended his wishes to the Afghan cricket team for touching great heights."Sports is a great medium for the integration of society. It is also a great medium to find out the talent in the youths. I congratulate India and Afghanistan cricket teams. I hope they will keep playing the game against each other with sportsman spirit," he added.

Afghanistan recently became the 12th side to feature in men's Test cricket when they played against India in a one-off historic Test match at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.The home side went on to win the match by an innings and 262 runs within two days.

Afghanistan were skittled out for 109 and 103 inside two sessions on day 2 of the game, and India took 40 wickets alone after posting 474 in their first innings.

During the post-match presentation, in a rare and heart-touching gesture, stand-in skipper Ajinkya Rahane called the Afghan team for the victory photo opportunity and also handed over the trophy to the debutants to boost their morale.