Rahmanullah Gurbaz

Some Lesser Known Facts About Rahmanullah Gurbaz

• Rahmanullah Gurbaz is an Afghanistani cricketer who has played for Afghanistan in the 2021 and 2022 editions of the T20I World Cup and several other tournaments. He is the first Afghani cricketer to score an ODI century on debut. He has played in many T20 leagues across the world.

• He used to play football during his initial years; however, when the former Afghanistani cricketers Nawroz Mangal and Noor Ali Zadran visited his hometown, the people of the area gave them a rousing reception. This impressed Gurbaz, and he wished that he would be treated in a similar way one day, hence he started to play cricket.

• His friend Qadir Gurbaz supported him to pursue his dreams. He started playing cricket by playing tennis ball cricket in his neighbourhood. He later made a pitch in his field where he practised with his friends.

• He started playing professional cricket at Mohammad Khan Zadran Club in 2014.

• His family did not support him as his father wanted him to study hard; however, he wanted to become a cricketer.

• He shared an incident from his teenage years in an interview and revealed that he wanted to buy a cricket kit; however, he did not have the money to do so. At that time, his family was building their home so he talked to the contractor and made an agreement with him that he would work for him in disguise for the daily wage. Rahmanullah worked for 17-18 days and earned enough money to buy a cricket kit.

  

• When he bought a cricket kit, his brother Saadat noticed it and asked him how he got the money to buy such an expensive kit. Rahmanullah told him about daily wage labour work after which his brother scolded both, him and the contractor.

• He once talked about the support of his brothers and friends in his cricketing journey. He revealed an incident and said that when he was selected for the Khost Provincial team, he had to travel to Kabul to play in the Provincial tournament; however, he did not have a cricket kit. When he told his brother Saadat about this, he told him that he would buy him one. ^[4]YouTube – Afghanistan Cricket Board

• Saadat took 4000 Afghani rupees with him; however, the price of the cricket kit was 22,000 Afghani rupees. Saadat took a loan and bought Rahmanullah a cricket kit.

• Two days before the Provincial Tournament, someone stole his bat from the cricket kit. He told his cousin Dawlat Gurbaz about it and informed him that the price of the bat was 9000 Afghani rupees. Since Dawlat’s monthly earning was around 9000 Afghani rupees, he did not have the money with him; however, Dawlat bought Rahmanullah a bat by taking a loan from his friend who worked as an exchequer.

• He was very good at studies and even topped the class in 6th and 7th standards; however, after that, he started playing cricket professionally and studied only to clear the exams.; he used to bunk classes to play cricket.

• He played for Mis Ainak Region in the 2017 Shpageeza Cricket League and the 2018 Ahmad Shah Abdali 4-day Tournament.

  

• He was a member of the Afghanistan squad for the 2018 Under-19 Cricket World Cup. In the 2018 ACC Under-19 Asia Cup, he emerged as the leading run scorer for his team with 117 runs in 4 matches.

• He represented Afghanistan Under-23 in the 2018 ACC Emerging Teams Asia Cup.

• He scored his maiden T20I half-century on 20 September 2019 against Zimbabwe in Chattogram, Bangladesh and scored 61 runs off 47 balls, which included 4 fours and 4 sixes.

• He has played in T20 Leagues all across the world for different teams. He played for Paktia in the inaugural edition of the Afghanistan Premier League in 2018, Khulna Tigers in the 2019-20 Bangladesh Premier League, Barbados Tridents in the 2020 Caribbean Premier League, Multan Sultans in the 2021 Pakistan Super League (PSL), Islamabad United for the 2022 PSL season, and Jaffna Kings for the 2021 and 2022 Lanka Premier League.
  

  

  

• He scored a half-century off 19 balls on his Bangladesh Premier League debut, 43 runs off 24 balls on his T20I debut, and 53 runs off 22 balls on his Lanka Premier League debut.

• He scored his maiden ODI century on 21 January 2021 against Ireland in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE) by scoring 127 runs off 127 balls which included 8 fours and 9 sixes, thereby becoming the first Afghanistani cricketer to score an ODI century on debut.

  

• In the 2021 T20I World Cup held in UAE, he scored 85 runs in 5 matches at an average of 17 and a strike rate of 119.72; his highest score was 46.

• He was acquired by Gujarat Titans for the base price of Rs 50 lakhs in the 2022 Indian Premier League (IPL) season and was transferred to Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) for the 2023 IPL season.

  

• On 23 January 2022, he scored 103 runs off 127 balls, which included 6 fours and 3 sixes, in an ODI match against the Netherlands in Doha, Qatar.

• On 28 February 2022, he scored 106 runs not out in 110 balls, which included 7 fours and 4 sixes, in an ODI match against Bangladesh in Chattogram, Bangladesh.

  

• He has shown his power-hitting capability on different occasions. He scored 79 runs off 52 balls against West Indies in Lucknow on 17 November 2019, 87 runs off 45 balls against Zimbabwe in Abu Dhabi, UAE, and 84 runs off 45 balls against Sri Lanka in Sharjah, UAE.

• In the 2022 T20I World Cup held in Australia, he scored 68 runs in 3 matches at an average of 22.67 and a strike rate of 136; his highest score was 30.

• Although he did not get a chance to play in the 2022 IPL, he debuted as an opener for KKR in the 2023 IPL season.

• He scored his maiden IPL half-century on 6 April 2023 against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) by scoring 57 runs off 44 balls, which included 6 fours and 3 sixes.

  

• On 29 April 2023, he scored 81 runs off 39 balls against Gujarat Titans at a strike rate of 207.69, which included 5 fours and 7 sixes. It was the highest score by an Afghani cricketer in IPL.

• Rahmanullah Gurbaz revealed in an interview that AB de Villiers is his favourite cricketer, and he watches his videos to learn about his shots.

• He likes to read books in his leisure time, particularly about motivation and communication.