T20 World Cup: Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran of Afghanistan scored consecutive 100-run opening stands in the T20 World Cup. After thrashing Uganda in their tournament opener, the Afghani duo registered its second-consecutive hundred-run partnership in the T20 World Cup as they took apart the New Zealand bowlers on Saturday (June 8).
During their record partnership in T20 World Cup, Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran also joined Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma to become the second opening pair to score two consecutive hundred-run partnerships in T20I cricket.
In the last game Afghanistan openers Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran made the second-highest first-wicket partnership (154) in the T20 World Cup, during their side’s 2024 tournament opener against Uganda on Tuesday. This is only surpassed by Jos Buttler and Alex Hales’ 170-run partnership against India in the 2022 World Cup semifinals. Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan’s 152-run opening stand in the 2021 World Cup ranks third.
Gurbaz tops T20 World Cup most runs list
Gurbaz also became the leading run-getter of the ongoing T20 World Cup edition. He 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. Thanks to his knock on Saturday, Gurbaz was also adjudged player of the match.
“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.