Afghanistan opener Ibrahim Zadran created history as he became the first-ever batter from his country to hit a century in the ICC ODI World Cups. He achieved the feat in the ongoing ICC CWC 2023 match between Australia and Afghanistan in Mumbai on November 7.
The match is being played in Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium and Hashmatullah Shahidi, the Afghan captain, won the toss and chose to bat first. Afghanistan chose to go with four spinners in their XI- Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, and Noor Ahmad.
For Australia, Steve Smith missed out due to vertigo, while Glenn Maxwell, and Mitchell Marsh returned to the XI.
Josh Hazlewood got Rahmanullah Gurbaz out for 21 runs, but Ibrahim Zadran anchored one end, while batters contributed from the other. Rahmat Shah made 30 runs, adding 83 runs for the second wicket. Then captain Hashmatullah Shahidi (26) and Azmatullah Omarzai (22) also did their best to move the score forward.
Zadran completed his fifty in 62 balls with 6 fours and then in the final overs, accelerated as well. He remained unbeaten on 129 runs in 143 balls with 8 fours and 3 sixes to his name. Rashid Khan’s cameo of 35* in 18 balls, propelled Afghanistan to 291/5 in 50 overs.
Ibrahim Zadran, in his post-match interview, thanked Sachin Tendulkar for encouraging him to do well when the legend visited the Afghanistan training session on the eve of this match.
Meanwhile, Zadran deservedly received praise from the cricket fraternity on social media for his sublime and historic knock.
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