How Gautam Gambhir helped Rahmanullah Gurbaz? Afghanistan star thanks India coach after scoring historic century in 1st ODI
How Gautam Gambhir helped Rahmanullah Gurbaz? Afghanistan star thanks India coach after scoring historic century in 1st ODI originally appeared on Cricket News.
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Key Takeaways:
- Rahmanullah Gurbaz scored 102 off 51 balls in the 1st ODI at Dharamsala, setting a record for the fastest ODI century by an Afghanistan batter.
- Gurbaz credited India coach Gautam Gambhir with a technical conversation about shot selection following Afghanistan’s Test defeat at Mullanpur.
- India won the rain-reduced 25-over fixture with debutants Gurnoor Brar (3/27) and Harsh Dubey (3/47) sharing six wickets to restrict Afghanistan to 194.
Afghanistan star thanks India coach after scoring historic century in 1st ODI
Rahmanullah Gurbaz arrived at the HPCA Stadium in Dharamsala carrying the memory of Afghanistan’s heaviest Test defeat and a quiet conversation with India’s head coach. What followed was an innings of extraordinary quality, 102 off 51 balls in defiant response to the 300-run Mullanpur thrashing.
A rain-reduced contest cut to 25 overs per side gave Gurbaz the perfect canvas. India elected to field, and the Afghanistan wicketkeeper-batter responded by hammering eight fours and eight sixes, completing his ninth ODI century off 48 balls before being yorked by Nitish Kumar Reddy for 102.
Gurbaz praised the Indian head coach for his help
The backstory behind the innings involved Gautam Gambhir, who coaches India and previously shared a dressing room with Gurbaz at KKR. After the Test defeat at Mullanpur, Gurbaz approached Gambhir with a specific request for help, and the India head coach was eager to oblige.
“After the Test match, I had a very good conversation with Gautam Gambhir sir (and) that discussion really helped me,” Gurbaz told the broadcaster. Gurbaz revealed he specifically told Gambhir he wanted to improve his shot selection, prompting a frank exchange he immediately took to the training nets.
Their IPL-forged familiarity made the conversation more open and productive than it might otherwise have been. “I worked on those ideas in the nets, and I’m truly grateful for the guidance. When the Test match ended, I told him that I wanted to improve my shot selection,” Gurbaz said. “He shared some positive ideas, and I was able to apply them today. I just tried to play positively, and it worked for me,” he added.
Gurbaz’s 48-ball century is the fastest ODI hundred ever scored by an Afghanistan batter, eclipsing Mohammad Shahzad’s 72-ball effort against Scotland in 2010. It is also the second fastest ODI century against India, behind only Shahid Afridi’s 45-ball innings in Kanpur in 2005.
Afghanistan Collapse Lets India Back In
Despite Gurbaz’s heroics, Afghanistan folded for 194 runs in 24.5 overs. No other batter could provide meaningful support, with Hashmatullah Shahidi making 27 before Harsh Dubey dismissed him in the 17th over. India debutants Brar and Dubey shared six wickets, with Arshdeep Singh and Nitish Reddy contributing two each.
“Scoring a hundred against India in India is special, but it’s the reward for the effort I’ve put in,” Gurbaz said.
But despite his kind words, India still took the win, with captain Shubman Gill scoring a brilliant half-century, scoring 84 off 66 balls to lead India to a seven-wicket victory. With this, India has a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.
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