Ibrahim Zadran scripted history in the 39th match of the ongoing World Cup by becoming the first player from Afghanistan to score an ODI World Cup hundred while playing at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on November 7 (Tuesday).
This is the first instance of an Afghan player scoring a ton in any World Cup game (including both ODI and T20 World Cups). Zadran was magnificent from the very beginning of his innings and displayed a lot of composure and maturity throughout his knock.
He lost his opening partner Rahmat Shah in the eighth over of the contest but kept marching on with aplomb and aggregated 83 runs for the second wicket alongside Rahmat Shah.
Zadran played the role of anchoring the innings really well and kept propelling Afghanistan towards a competitive total despite losing partners at the other end. He didn't take any unnecessary risks and only latched out at the bad deliveries bowled by the Aussie bowlers.
He scored his half-century on the fifth ball of the 18th over with a fortuitous boundary as a back of a length delivery from Australia's pace spearhead Mitchell Starc took the outside half of his bat and went past the wicketkeeper for a four.
Notably, his century came on the last delivery of the 44th over. He punched the ball into the cover region and scurried to complete a double and reached his historic milestone.
His century also helped him become the fourth youngest (21 years and 330 days) player in ODI World Cup history to score a century. Zadran quickly changed his gears and took the attack to the Australian bowlers at the death alongside the hard-hitting Rashid Khan (35* off 18 balls) to guide Afghanistan to 291 in their 50 overs.
The centurion remained unbeaten right till the end and scored 129* off 143 balls, including eight fours and three sixes at a strike rate of 90.20.
