Afghanistan finally had their moment against Australia on the biggest stage when they registered a historic win over the giants in the ongoing T20 World Cup 2024 on Sunday, June 23 (as per IST). The Afghans defeated the mighty Aussies at the Arnos Vale Ground, Kingstown, St Vincent by 21 runs to record their maiden win over Australia in any format.
While the bowlers came to the party in their defence of 148, the opening batters Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran set it up for Afghanistan with a 118-run opening stand. With this partnership, the Afghan pair has shattered a historic record jointly held by some star pairs.
The Afghan pair has become the first pair in history to register three partnerships in excess of 100 in any T20I series or T20 World Cup. The most 100-plus partnership records in a single edition belonged to Australian pair Matthew Hayden-Adam Gilchrist, India's Rohit Sharma-Virat Kohli and Pakistan's Babar Azam-Mohamad Rizwan.
All three pairs had two partnerships of more than 100 runs in a single T20 World Cup edition. The Hayden and Gilchrist pair had two partnerships in excess of 100 in the 2007 T20 World Cup. Rohit and Kohli emulated the feat in the 2014 World Cup with two such stands, while Babar and Rizwan notched 100-plus stands twice in the 2021 edition of the tournament.
In the clash against Australia, both Gurbaz and Zadran scored individual fifties despite being given lifelines due to some sloppy work by the Aussies on the field. While Zadran made 51, Gurbaz scored 60 at the top of the order. Gurbaz was the first to depart in this game on 60, followed by Zadran on 51.
Notably, both the players had 100-plus partnership stands twice in the ongoing World Cup previously. The first occasion of a hundred-plus stand between these two players came in Afghanistan's opening match of the tournament against Uganda when the two players partnered for 154 runs at the top. In that game, Zadran was the first one to get dismissed for 70, while Gurbaz followed suit four balls later with a score of 76.
The second occasion came in the very next match against New Zealand when they partnered for a 103-run opening stand. Zadran was dismissed first on 44 but Gurbaz carried on till the final over, making 80.
