Afghanistan replaces video of U19 players dancing after win with prayer video

The Afghanistan U19 cricket team became the first cricket team from the country to reach the semifinals of a World Cup when they beat Sri Lanka at Coolidge Cricket Ground in the U19 World Cup on Thursday.

However, how the team should celebrate their win seems to have been a matter of debate.

On Thursday night, as Afghanistan sealed the narrow victory, the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) Twitter account uploaded a video of the Afghan colts performing the 'Attan', a centuries-old traditional Afghan dance.

"The future stars "have got some moves" to celebrate their qualification to the last 4 at the ICC U19 CWC 2022. They are walking ATTAN which is our traditional dance and has a special place in our culture," the post was captioned.

However, on Friday, that original post was deleted and a video showing the players praying was uploaded instead. "Celebrate the win boys!! The Future stars have all the rights in the world to celebrate their quarter final win over SL U19s," this post was captioned.

Singing and dancing were strictly forbidden in Afghanistan during the Taliban's previous rule from 1996-2001.

The 'attan' also faced a ban during this period but has slowly been making a comeback over the last two decades. Similar to the 'garba' dance, the 'attan' used to be traditionally performed in Afghan villages when the king sent happy news through his messengers.

The new Taliban regime has promised to be more accepting of singing and dancing, but there have been reports of crackdowns.

Broadcast of IPL 2021 was also banned in Afghanistan last year after the Taliban takeover due to 'anti-Islamic content'.

In the U19 World Cup, Afghanistan will face England in the semi-finals on February 1.