Gurbaz, Zadran record Afghanistan's highest opening partnership in World Cup
Afghanistan were off to a sublime start against England in the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup encounter at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi. Openers Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran added a 114-run stand after England elected to field. This is now Afghanistan's highest-opening partnership in the World Cup. While Gurbaz went on to slam 80, Zadran departed for 28.
A salubrious partnership for Afghanistan
Gurbaz and Zadran fared well in the first Powerplay. The duo brought up Afghanistan's fifty in the seventh over. While Zadran focused on rotating the strike, the former touched the 50-run mark off just 33 balls. Afghanistan reached 100 in the 13th over, with Gurbaz contributing 66 to the partnership. Adil Rashid dismissed Zadran a few overs later (114/1).
Gurbaz, Zadran enter record books
As mentioned, Gurbaz and Zadran registered the highest opening stand for Afghanistan in the ODI World Cups. Hazratullah Zazai and Noor Ali Zadran held the previous record, having smacked 66 together against New Zealand in the 2019 edition. Notably, these are the only two 50+ opening stands for the Afghans in the tournament.
The highest first-powerplay total for Afghanistan in WC
Afghanistan were 79/0 at the end of 10 overs. This is now their highest first Powerplay total in the World Cup. The previous highest was 61/0, which came when Zazai and Noor Ali paired up against the Kiwis in 2019.
An emphatic knock from Gubraz
While Zadran focused on rotating the strike, Gurbaz touched the 50-run mark off just 33 balls. He eventually smashed a 57-ball 80 (8 fours and 3 sixes) before departing through an untimely run-out. Gurbaz could have become the first Afghanistan batter with a century in the World Cup. Samiullah Shinwari holds the record for smashing the highest score for Afghanistan in the World Cup
Highest WC score by an Afghanistan opener
Gurbaz has become only the third Afghanistan opener to record a 50+ score in the ODI World Cups. Rahmat Shah (62 vs West Indies, Leeds, WC 2019) and Javed Ahmadi (51 vs Scotland, Dunedin, WC 2015) are the other two. However, Gurbaz now has the highest score by an Afghanistan opener in the World Cup. He slammed his third ODI half-century.
