Opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz scored his maiden T20I ton on Friday, December 29, to assist Afghanistan ease previous UAE by 72 runs within the first sport of the three-match T20I collection on the Sharjah Cricket Stadium. Gurbaz’s knock took the sport out of UAE’s grasp and showcased the rising may of Afghanistan.
The choice to area first returned to hang-out the UAE skipper Muhammad Waseem as Gurbaz did not observe restraint and went laborious against the hosts. The 22-year-old Afghan opener misplaced his fellow opener Hazratullah Zazai (13 off 16 balls) inside the primary 5 overs however did not let the loss adversely affect the group’s run price.
Player of the Match (POTM) Gurbaz made full use of the batting wicket on the venue and charged the UAE bowlers with authority. He smashed seven fours and the identical variety of sixes because the UAE bowlers saved ducking for canopy. The right-handed batter reached the three-figure mark in authoritative model. He smashed a most off Junaid Siddique on the fourth supply of the seventeenth over and celebrated in ecstasy.
Afghanistan’s stand-in captain Ibrahim Zadran additionally scored a fifty and aggregated 137 runs for the second wicket alongside the centurion. Ibrahim’s knock comprised 4 boundaries and two maximums and got here at a strike price of 137.20.
Emerging allrounder Azmatullah Omarzai performed a gorgeous cameo of 19* off eight balls at a strike price of 237.50 to assist the vacationers cross the 200-run mark and put up a goal of 204 for the hosts to scale down.
In reply, the UAE batters proved no match to the numerous and good bowling assault of Afghanistan and surrendered meekly. Barring Vriitya Aravind (70* off 64 balls), not one of the different batters impressed and the Muhammad Waseem-led aspect folded for 131/4 of their 20 overs.
Fazalhaq Farooqi (2/19) and Naveen-ul-Haq (1/25) have been spectacular with the ball in hand and utilized relentless stress on UAE’s batting order.
The second T20I shall be performed on Sunday on the similar venue.
