Rashid Khan and Mujeeb Ur Rahman may not get many headlines in our part of the world, but in Afghanistan they are national heroes, and they diluted that status when the team entered the Cricket World Cup in the United Arab Emirates.
The premiere was a mouthful - the team dreamed up with the highest score of all teams so far in the World Cup and pushed Scotland to one of the lowest points in the tournament's history.
- This was exactly according to plan.
Everyone knows that Rashid and Mujeeb are among the best in the world.
It is only to be hoped that we continue like this, says team captain Mohammad Nabi, one of many players who could not hold back tears when the national anthem was played before the match.
That it would even be an Afghan team in the World Cup has long been uncertain.
Even though the team was directly qualified, the way there was anything but easy.
- It has not been completely ideal, no.
We had some problems, Nabi said before the match.
Visa hassle
"A little problem" is something of an understatement.
Since the Taliban took power, voices about shutting Afghanistan out of the heat of cricket have been pouring in.
The key question has been whether Afghanistan under the new regime would allow a women's team.
If not, the men should also, according to the rules, be kicked out of the cricket community.
The International Federation of ICCs has granted an exemption to the World Cup, but the issue will be raised again in November.
It is clear that the chairman of the national federation has been replaced by a man approved by the Taliban and that the fix star Rashid Khan in protest handed over the role of team captain.
Visa trouble also caused the team to be delayed to the United Arab Emirates and for the past 18 months, the national team has only played sporadically.
Quiet in Kabul
But nothing was noticed on Monday night.
In the stands in Sharjah, many Afghans were in place with drums and singing and the former president Ashraf Ghani, who fled the country when the Taliban took power, writes on Twitter that the victory "gives new hope in everyone's hearts that our nation lives and no one can keep it captive".
And former Vice President Amrullah Saleh noted that neither the national anthem nor the flag hoisted has been approved by the Taliban.
From Afghanistan, the Taliban have congratulated the team on social media for the win, but in the capital Kabul it was quiet.
Cricket victories are usually celebrated with great cheers, but according to the news agency Reuters, only a few fireworks were seen over the empty Taliban-controlled streets.