NAGPUR: Afghanistan cricket coach Inzamam-ul-Haq says the victory against the West Indies in the last group match at the World Twenty20 in India is a big achievement for him and his team.

Afghanistan have consistently been impressive on the world stage ever since they came through in a fairytale journey from Division 5 to near the top echelons.

On Sunday at Nagpur’s VCA Stadium, Afghanistan took their most significant step yet, beating powerhouses West Indies by six runs.

Afghanistan had beaten Bangladesh in the 50-over Asia Cup two years ago, and in their first appearance in a 50-over World Cup, registered a thrilling one-wicket win over Scotland last year in Dunedin.

However, this is the first time that the Afghans have beaten a top team — one of the tournament favourites — at a world event.

“There is no doubt it’s a big win [against West Indies] for us,” Inzamam, the former Pakistan skipper and legendary batsman who was named Afghanistan coach in November last year, said.

“Whether it’s the ODI or World T20, we hadn’t won a match [against a top team] so this is definitely big. It’s also a sign that this team can do even better if they get more opportunities. This victory came on the back of consistently running teams close in the World Twenty,” Inzamam noted.

“All our previous matches have been close. There haven’t been one-sided matches, it’s not like a team make 200 against us and we are all out for 100 or 150,” the coach underlined.

“The Afghanistan team have been fighting, and the belief was always there. They haven’t had that exposure of winning against big teams. The finishing point had not been seen. But now that we have won this, it will definitely help. We had a strong belief that if we can come so close, we can win too. Today it has happened.

“The more we play against big teams, the more we’ll learn, and can perform even better,” Inzamam concluded.

Published in Dawn, March 29th, 2016