Afghanistan opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz smashed his first T20I century against UAE following his side’s 72-run victory at Sharjah.
Rahmanullah Gurbaz’s maiden T20I century
The Afghanistan player Rahmanullah Gurbaz made his first century in the first T20I match in the Afghanistan tour of UAE 2023 at Sharjah Cricket Stadium.
He smashed 100 runs to help his side set up a score of 203 runs in the match and helped the side to lead the series 1-0. Their side bowled out the hosts for 131 runs, winning the match by 72 runs.
He becomes the third Afghanistan batter to score a century for his side after Mohammad Shahzad and Hazratullah Zazai.
While speaking in the post-match interview, Rahmanullah Gurbaz said, “I feel really excited. I dreamt of a hundred in a T20I so I’m excited. My plan was to give strike to Hazratullah and whenever I got a loose ball, my plan was to be in as wicket was not easy.”
“The crowd supports us everywhere, they support both teams and that is the amazing thing. Thanks to them and I hope they come for the next game. I have played good knocks but in T20s I can say this one is a special one,” said Gurbaz.
Batting first, Afghanistan scored 203 runs on the board which included a century from Gurbaz and a half-century from skipper Ibrahim Zadran. After the early dismissal of Hazratullah Zazai for 13 runs, Ibrahim Zadran joined Gurbaz to set up a huge score against the United Arab Emirates.
After the dismissal of Gurbaz by Junaid Siddique and Zadran’s dismissal by Muhammad Jawadullah, Omarzai, and Nabi made the final strike to score 203 runs for 3 in 20 overs.
UAE started their innings, where the side suffered early dismissals of the openers Waseem for 4 and Khalid Shah for a duck. Vriitya Aravind scored an unbeaten 70 runs on 64 deliveries. Fazalhaq Farooqi dismissed Khalid Shah and Samai Udawaththa. But the side suffered the defeat by 72 runs as they scored only 131 runs for four wickets.
After securing victory in the first T20I match, Afghanistan and UAE will be playing their next T20I match on December 31, 2023, at Sharjah Cricket Stadium.
