Afghanistan opening batter Rahmanullah Gurbaz who was in an exceptional form in the ongoing ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 scored his second fifty of the tournament in the clash against New Zealand at Guyana.
In Afghanistan’s opening clash against Uganda, Gurbaz scored 76 runs off 45 deliveries and recorded the highest opening partnership for Afghanistan in the T20 World Cup.
Gurbaz and Zadran made a record-breaking partnership by scoring 66 runs without losing a wicket in the first powerplay. 64/2 vs South Africa in 2016 was their previous best in the powerplay, and Afghanistan’s 66/0 vs Uganda made them surpass their own record.
With a confident knock and victory in the first game, Afghanistan faced New Zealand at Guyana to play the 14th match of the tournament on June 8.
Winning the toss, New Zealand decided to bowl first where Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran opened the inning and made an another century stand for the first wicket. The duo added 103 runs for the first wicket and made an impressive start for Afghanistan.
Though they made a century stand for their first wicket their net run rate was not up to the mark. Afghanistan crossed the 100 runs mark in the middle of the 14th over which is nearly 7 runs per over.
Afghan middle-order batters failed to make an impact with the bat and fell cheaply for New Zealand’s quality bowling attack.
While Gurbaz was expected to score the first century of the tournament, the right-hander lost his wicket in the final after scoring 80 runs from 56 balls. With a couple of dismissals in that over, Afghanistan managed to score just 3 runs which made them finish their inning with a score of 159.
With the half-century, Gurbaz becomes the leading run-scorer of the tournament with a tally of 156 runs. Still, Aaron Jones‘ unbeaten 94 remains the highest individual score of the T20 World Cup 2024.
