Gurbaz promised a lot when he broke into the Afghanistan side as an 18-year-old in 2019. Four years down the line, he has had an IPL gig, and is one-half of a formidable opening partnership for Afghanistan in ODIs.
He ran riot during the second ODI against Bangladesh. Sent into bat on a flat track, the Afghanistan openers made hay.
While Ibrahim Zadran supported Gurbaz brilliantly at one end, Gurbaz took the attack to the Bangladesh bowlers. Mustafizur Rahman was the first one to fall in Gurbaz’s firing line as he hit him for two sixes in the eighth over of the innings.
Gurbaz then reached his fifty in style, depositing a short-pitched ball from Shakib Al Hasan over mid-wicket for six. It was off Shakib’s bowling that he reached his hundred as well, tucking a length ball towards the leg side for a single.
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This was Gurbaz’s fourth ODI hundred, and he is not even 22 yet. After reaching the three-figure mark, Gurbaz accelerated and scored 45 runs off the next 25 balls. He hit eight sixes and 13 fours in his innings – the most boundaries ever hit by an Afghan in an ODI innings.
The importance of Gurbaz’s knock can be gauged by the fact that after his wicket, the first one to fall, on 256, Afghanistan’s innings fell apart. They scored just 75 runs for eight wickets to finish on 331-9.
Bangladesh couldn’t get anywhere near the target, though, as the visitors won by 142 runs, becoming the second team after England to beat Bangladesh in an ODI series in Bangladesh since 2015.
