From Khost to Kandahar, scream it from atop the Hindukush mountains till the celebrations drown out into the Arabian Sea. Let it be known to the world that 11 boys from Afghanistan have achieved what most in the country didn’t even dream of a decade ago. They had their sorrows in Sharjah, and then the horrors in Hambantota against the mighty Pakistanis, but today they have become the champions of Chepauk. A night to remember till the mountains echo for a nation that has suffered so much strife on and off the field. And that’s why sports is such a great leveler in this big, beautiful world.

Three successive losses in a row for Pakistan! Not sure how they can recover from this, even though their semifinal hopes are still alive. A lot of things went wrong for them today. Not much intent shown against the Afghanistan spinners, two of their top-order batters failed to convert their starts, the fielding was mediocre and they were just unable to exert any pressure with their bowling. Even Babar Azam's captaincy will be questioned. But let's celebrate Afghanistan's impressive win tonight.

Hashmatullah Shahidi: This win tastes nice. The way we chased was very professional. Looking forward for the other games. The way we chased today, we'll do it again.

Babar Azam: This hurts us. We had a good total. In the bowling, we weren't up to the mark as we are not taking wickets in the middle overs. If you are not good in even one department, then you'll lose the game. We didn't stop boundaries and gave away runs, that cost us. Bowling - we started well, in the middle overs, we needed wickets but we couldn't take any.

Mohammad Nabi: Big moment for the whole team, the whole of Afghanistan. We’ve been waiting for 10-12 years for such a moment and to win one game in the big event against Pakistan. Last 3 months we worked very hard, this is a lovely moment today. We beat England and now Pakistan, everyone is in a good mood. We can not only defend, but also chase well now. This win is the favorite, we have played them 7-8 games against them and in the last moment we have always lost. The way Ibrahim and Gurbaz started, that gave us the momentum. We didn’t lose back to back wickets till the end. We thought the surface would be like the NZ game, but it was much easier. I think our bowlers did very well to restrict them to that kind of total. The plan was to play Noor in this game, and he bowled brilliantly, in the right areas. This win is a long time coming, we played for the first time in 2012, then Asia Cup and 2019 World Cup. Lots of close games against Pakistan. We shouldn’t have lost the first game against Bangladesh, but now we’re halfway gone and we have 4 points on the table. Now we will go hard against Sri Lanka. We loved the support we received today, hopefully we’ll get that support in Pune as well.

Ibrahim Zadran, Player of the Match: I wanted to go out there with a positive mind and positive intent, and I did it. We (Gurbaz and himself) have played a lot of cricket with each other, we have good communication while running between the wickets since under-16 days. The way Gurbaz supported me (in that opening partnershijp) - that helped me and we got the momentum in our favour. I am feeling great for myself and my country.

Gurbaz: They always beat us, this is the first time we've defeated them, thank you so much', says Ibrahim Zadran, as Afghanistan stroll across the ground for a lap of honour

Ibrahim Zadran: I wanted to go out there (during the run chase) with a positive mind and positive intent, and I did it. We (Gurbaz and himself) have played a lot of cricket with each other, we have good communication while running between the wickets. The way Gurbaz supported me (in that opening partnershijp) - that helped me and we got the momentum in our favour. I am feeling great for myself and my country.

Chasing a tricky score, Gurbaz scored a boundary off the very first of the innings and Afghanistan never looked back. The openers stitched a century partnership

22:00 Local Time, 16:30 GMT, 22:00 IST: Take a bow, Afghanistan!

Shaheen Afridi to Shahidi, FOUR, full toss and a shuffling Shahidi whips it away over square leg. Captain Shahidi removes his hemlet and roars. Rahmat, meanwhile, is calm as ever - looks heavenwards.

Scores level!

Shaheen Afridi to Rahmat, 1 run, full ball, bunted towards mid-on for a single. An angry, off-target throw from Babar Azam.....

Shaheen Afridi to Shahidi, 1 run, comes down the track and wafts his bat at this wide-ish length ball. Flies off the top-edge and falls short of third man

Shaheen Afridi to Rahmat, 1 run, opens his bat-face and eases this length ball to deep point