In the second game of the three-game ODI series between Pakistan and Afghanistan, the batsmen of the Afghan team put on a great performance. The Afghan team came to bat first, scoring 300 runs in a 5-wicket loss after the end of 50 overs. Rahmanullah Gurbaz played an excellent inning of 151 runs for the Afghan team.
The second ODI of the series, played in Hambantota, Sri Lanka, featured the aggressive style of the Afghan side’s opening batsman, Rahmanullah Gurbaz. The young wicket-keeper-batsman completed the 5th century of his ODI career in that game with just 122 balls. Gurbaz also became the first player from Afghanistan to score a goal of the century against Pakistan.
Rahmanullah Gurbaz scored his 5th ODI century in just 25 innings. Because of this, Gurbaj is now the third batsman in world cricket to have scored the fastest 5 centuries in ODIs. South Africa’s wicket-keeper batsman Quinton de Kock and Pakistan’s opening batsman Imam-ul-Haq are number one on this list. Both had played 19-19 innings to complete their first 5 centuries in ODIs.
After winning the toss in the second ODI, the Afghan team decided to bat first. After that, opening pairing Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran got the team off to a great start, taking the score to 48 runs without a loss in the first 10 overs. After that, both continued the process of rapidly increasing the score. There was a great partnership of 227 runs in the first wicket between Gurbaz and Zadran. This was the largest opening partnership of any team in the ODI format since 2010 against Pakistan.
Thanks to this partnership, the Afghan team managed to score 300 runs in 50 overs. In addition to Gurbaz, Ibrahim Zadran scored an inning of 80 runs. On the other hand, Shaheen Afridi took two wickets for Pakistan while Naseem Shah and Usma Mir took 1-1 wickets.