The final of the Desert T20 Challenge was played on the same day as the semi-finals. Asghar Afghan was expected to join William Porterfield for the toss.
But that did not happen. Afghan was still in the team (as designated captain), but Nawroz Mangal, playing his last international match, walked out to the middle with the team sheet.
The decision to send Mangal had been unanimous. As expected, Porterfield was not too surprised either. He broke into a smile, for he, like anyone else, was aware of Mangal's contributions to Afghanistan cricket.
Like many Afghans of his generation, he went to a refugee school, where he studied only till Class 8. Cricket used to be the only field – let alone sport – that gave the Afghans hope in those troubled times, bringing them together. And Mangal, after being spotted by Taj Malik, their first coach, took to cricket like a fish does to water.
The team had to undergo many hardships in their initial days. For the 2008-09 ICC WCL Division 3 in Argentina, for example, Afghanistan had only one set of playing clothes per person. But Mangal held them together with his grasp of the sport and a remarkable ability to handle people.
He once reprimanded a teammate who lingered on after a dubious umpiring decision. He kept reminding them of the many battles of the Afghans against numerous invaders, of their resilience, their toughness, why their growth has been unlike any other team's, and what their success meant to others – not necessarily cricket fans – back home. And it worked.
It had been a shoulder no other international captain had to bear. And Mangal bore it well, setting a platform for the Nabis and Rashids and Shahzads and Rahmats.
The first man to lead Afghanistan at international cricket was born on 16 July 1984.