Afghanistan’s wicketkeeper-batter Rahmanullah Gurbaz scored his maiden T20I ton in the clash against United Arab Emirates (UAE) on December 29 at Sharjah Cricket Stadium. Gurbaz became the first-ever batter to score a T20I century against UAE. The previous highest individual T20I score against UAE belonged to Oman's Aqib Ilyas who scored a 52-ball 90 a few months earlier.
Gurbaz became the third Afghanistan batter to score a T20I century after Hazratullah Zazai and Mohammad Shahzad. Zazai scored an unbeaten 162 against Ireland in 2019. Shahzad was the first to achieve the milestone for Afghanistan with an unbeaten 118 against Zimbabwe in Sharjah in 2016.
In the first T20I of the series, UAE skipper Muhammad Waseem won the toss and opted to field first. Zazai hit the first six of the innings in the second over. In the fourth over, Gurbaz joined him and smashed Junaid Siddique out of the park. In the fifth over, spinner Aayan Khan dismissed Zazai who managed to score 13 runs from 16 balls. Gurbaz ended the powerplay overs with two consecutive fours off Nilansh Keswani.
Gurbaz took on Keswani in his next over with two sixes and a four. He reached his half-century with a six in the next over. He took 24 deliveries to reach the milestone. While Ibrahim Zadran played second fiddle, Gurbaz dealt in boundaries. In the 15th over, Zadran got a second life as he was dropped by Siddique at third man. In the next over, Zadran hit Basil Hameed for two fours and a six. In the 17th over, Gurbaz smashed Siddique for a maximum to reach his century from 50 balls.
But Siddique managed to get the batter of Gurbaz on the last ball of the over. The 22-year-old's 52-ball 100 featured seven fours and as many sixes. In the next over, Zadran reached his half-century from 37 balls. Azmatullah Omarzai's catch was dropped when he was batting on just one run. Omarzai made UAE pay in the final over with two fours and a six off Muhammad Jawadullah. On the penultimate delivery, Zadran was dismissed for a 43-ball 59. Mohammad Nabi finished the innings with a boundary to take Afghanistan's score to 203/3.
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