Opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz scored his maiden T20I ton on Friday, December 29, to help Afghanistan ease past UAE by 72 runs in the first game of the three-match T20I series at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium. Gurbaz's knock took the game out of UAE's grasp and showcased the growing might of Afghanistan.
The decision to field first returned to haunt the UAE skipper Muhammad Waseem as Gurbaz didn't practice restraint and went hard against the hosts. The 22-year-old Afghan opener lost his fellow opener Hazratullah Zazai (13 off 16 balls) inside the first five overs but didn't let the loss adversely impact the team's run rate.
Player of the Match (POTM) Gurbaz made full use of the batting wicket at the venue and charged the UAE bowlers with authority. He smashed seven fours and the same number of sixes as the UAE bowlers kept ducking for cover. The right-handed batter reached the three-figure mark in authoritative style. He smashed a maximum off Junaid Siddique on the fourth delivery of the 17th over and celebrated in ecstasy.
Afghanistan's stand-in captain Ibrahim Zadran also scored a fifty and aggregated 137 runs for the second wicket alongside the centurion. Ibrahim's knock comprised four boundaries and two maximums and came at a strike rate of 137.20.
Emerging allrounder Azmatullah Omarzai played an attractive cameo of 19* off eight balls at a strike rate of 237.50 to help the tourists cross the 200-run mark and post a target of 204 for the hosts to scale down.
In reply, the UAE batters proved no match to the varied and brilliant bowling attack of Afghanistan and surrendered meekly. Barring Vriitya Aravind (70* off 64 balls), none of the other batters impressed and the Muhammad Waseem-led side folded for 131/4 in their 20 overs.
Fazalhaq Farooqi (2/19) and Naveen-ul-Haq (1/25) were impressive with the ball in hand and applied relentless pressure on UAE's batting order.
The second T20I will be played on Sunday at the same venue.
