New Delhi. This is probably the youngest opening pair in world cricket. Afghanistan’s Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran (rehmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran), both are just 22 years old but their batting has amazing maturity. Both are adept at setting the ‘tone’ of batting according to the situation. While most of the giants have been seen struggling in the T20 World Cup 2024, the bats of these two are scoring a lot of runs. Afghanistan has made it to the Super 8 by winning all its three matches so far and the opening pair has a special contribution in this performance. The Afghan team easily defeated Papua New Guinea by 7 wickets in their third match.
Gurbaz and Zadran are among the top-5 batsmen of the current tournament. Wicketkeeper batsman Gurbaz has scored the highest 167 runs (average 55.66, strike rate 154.62) with two half-centuries in 3 matches, while Zadran has scored 114 runs (average 38, strike rate 153.33) with the help of a half-century in 3 matches and is fourth on the list. After last year’s ODI World Cup (World Cup 2023), the excellent performance of both in the T20 World Cup is also an indication of their bright future. There are special reasons for this great ‘tuning’ between these two openers of Afghanistan. Both come from the same village in Afghanistan and understand each other’s game well. Gurbaz had said in an interview, ‘Both of us have the same haircut. We play from the same club. We have been opening together since Under-16 and Under-19 level.
Have made two century partnerships so far
It is not easy to score runs on the slow wickets with uneven bounce of T20 World Cup 2024. Even legends like Virat Kohli and Kane Williamson are struggling on these wickets but Gurbaz-Zadran have so far scored runs here at a good strike rate and average. Amidst the dominance of the batsmen over the bowlers, there have been only 4 century partnerships in the T20 World Cup 2024 so far, out of which 2 are in the name of this Afghan pair. This includes the biggest partnership of 154 runs so far in the tournament (vs Uganda). Both of them have also shared a partnership of 103 runs against New Zealand. However, both of them could not play a big innings in the match against Papua New Guinea.
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The Afghan team has defeated New Zealand
Afghanistan’s impressive win against a strong team like New Zealand reflects its growing status in the T20 format. Let us tell you, this is Gurbaz’s third T20 World Cup. In his first T20 World Cup in 2021, he scored 85 runs in 5 matches and in 2022 he scored 68 runs in three matches. On the other hand, Zadran scored 80 runs in three matches in his first World Cup in 2022.
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Afghan team has been playing T20 World Cup since 2010
Talking about the Afghanistan team, it has been a part of the T20 World Cup since 2010 and is playing its 7th World Cup. In the current tournament, Rashid Khan’s team has raised hopes of progressing beyond the Super 8 with its performance so far, but this will be possible only if it maintains its excellent performance against the big teams. The Afghanistan team has played 25 matches in the T20 World Cup so far, out of which it has won 10 and lost 15. (Statistics till the Afghanistan-Papua New Guinea match of June 14)
Both of them also shone in the ODI World Cup 2023
Before this performance in the T20 World Cup, Gurbaz and Zadran have also made a splash in the 2023 ODI World Cup. In this World Cup held in India, Zadran was Afghanistan’s top scorer with 376 runs in 9 matches. In the match against Australia, he played an unbeaten innings of 129 runs. On the other hand, Gurbaz scored 280 runs in 9 matches with the help of two half-centuries. The special thing is that he scored these runs at a strike rate of 98.93.
Tags: Afghanistan Cricket, ICC T20 world cup, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, T20 World Cup
FIRST PUBLISHED : June 16, 2024, 06:48 IST