Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran are on a roll in the ongoing edition of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup. After decimating Uganda in their campaign opener, the Afghan pair registered its second-consecutive hundred-run partnership in the tournament and took the Kiwi bowlers to the cleaners.
Gurbaz and Zadran added 103 runs for the opening wicket and became the second pair after Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma to score two consecutive hundred-run partnerships in ICC Men’s T20 World Cup history. Notably, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli had stitched two hundred-plus partnerships against West Indies and Bangladesh during the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2014 in Bangladesh.
Zadran and Gurbaz had added 154 runs for the opening wicket against Uganda and the 103-run stand against the Blackcaps has helped them equal Rohit and Virat’s longstanding record.
Gurbaz became the leading run-getter of the ongoing T20 World Cup edition in the process and surpassed Aaron James of the USA. Gurbaz now has 156 runs to his credit and he is 26 runs ahead of James who is second on the list.
The Afghan wicketkeeper-batter was the aggressor in the partnership and struck five fours and five sixes. His knock helped Afghanistan post 159 on the board and it turned out to be a mountain to climb for the Kiwis as they got bundled out for 75 in just 15.2 overs.
The 22-year-old was ecstatic after Afghanistan’s first-ever win over New Zealand in the T20I format and mentioned that the side is brimming with self-belief.
“Nothing is more special. We were waiting for this victory for three years. We finally beat them. The trust and the belief was there from the very start. We have the belief that we can beat any team on this surface. In the first innings, the wicket was not easy,” said Gurbaz during the post-match presentation.
