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‘What a star he is’ – Fans react as Rahmanullah Gurbaz scores yet another fifty in T20 World Cup

Wicket- keeper Rahmanullah Gurbaz's second successive T20 World Cup fifty powers Afghanistan to 159 against New Zealand in Guyana on Friday

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Rahmanullah Gurbaz (Source-OCC)

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New Zealand finally began their T20 World Cup 2024 tournament with a game against Afghanistan. Kane Williamson had won the toss and chose to bowl first as Afghanistan openers Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran gave the team a flying start. 

In the last game the two batters had added 154 runs for the opening wicket to help Afghanistan score 184 against Uganda. Rashid Khan’s side had won the game by a massive 125 runs to begin their campaign on a high. 

Rahmanullah Gurbaz scored 80 runs from 56 balls with 5 fours and 5 sixes before he was bowled by Trent Boult in the final over of the innings. His first wicket stand with Ibrahim Zadran was worth 103 runs and came off just 14.3 overs. 

Afghanistan openers power their team to good start

Kane Williamson had put Afghanistan into bat when the two sides met in Guyana for their T20 World Cup game on Friday. Trent Boult just gave six runs from the first over of the game as the Afghan batters made a steady start to the game. Matt Henry was then smashed for 14 runs in his opening over as Ibrahim Zadran smashed two fours and Gurbaz hit one four. 

The first six overs just yielded 44 runs as the Kiwi bowlers pulled things back into their control. The Afghan batters found it tough as the tight lines from New Zealand bowlers meant that the boundaries were hard to come by. The fifty run stand for the first wicket came up in the 9th over of the innings. 

Momentum changed in the 11th over of the innings as Michael Bracewell conceded 21 runs off his over. Three sixes were hit 2 by Ibrahim Zadran and one by Rahmanullah Gurbaz to up the ante. The fifty for Rahmanullah Gurbaz came off 40 balls and this was his 2nd successive half-century of the tournament. 

Afghanistan opener got their 100-run stand in the 14th over and looked good for a massive score on the board. Yet again the opposition bowlers were able to put breaks on Afghanistan’s scoring rate after Ibrahim Zadran fell for 44 bowled by Matt Henry. 

Some tight bowling by the Kiwis meant that the wickets started to fall at regular intervals. Azmatullah Omarzai swung his bat around to score 22 runs from 12 balls to give Afghanistan some more momentum before he became the 2nd wicket for Matt Henry. The best bowler for New Zealand was Trent Boult with 2/22 from his 4 overs as Afghanistan ended their innings at 159/6 from their 20 overs. 

Here's how the fans reacted 

 

 

 

T20 World Cup