The fifth match of the ongoing ICC T20 World Cup 2024 took place between Afghanistan and Uganda at Providence Stadium in Guyana. Uganda won the toss and opted to bowl. Put into bat, Afghanistan openers Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran got off to a flying start.

However, Uganda’s maiden T20 World Cup game didn’t go according to their plans. They found it tough against a strong Afghanistan batting side where Ibrahim Zadran and Rahmanullah Gurbaz took on the opposition bowlers with their swashbuckling batting. Gurbaz started the onslaught with the boundaries, whereas Zadran took some time and then joined the party as Uganda found it tough to stop them.

Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran added a record partnership

The 22-year-old was aggressive since the beginning, taking on the inexperienced Ugandan bowling attack with 4 boundaries and as many sixes as well. On the other hand, Zadran’s onslaught came against Dinesh Nakrani who was bowling his second over of the match and Zadran smashed him for four consecutive boundaries as well.

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On the other hand, Gurbaz reached his fifty in just 28 deliveries whereas Zadran took 34 balls to reach the feat as well. Notably, star batter Rahmanullah Gurbaz recorded the highest individual score by an Afghanistan batter in a T20 World Cup match. He successfully broke the record which was held by Najibullah Zadran, who smashed 73 against New Zealand in the 2021 edition as well.

The pair added a record 154 runs for the opening wicket before Zadran got out for 70. However, by then they registered a few records as well. The total was Afghanistan’s highest T20 World Cup opening stand and fourth overall as well. However, they failed to register the highest opening partnership in a T20 World Cup match.

Afghanistan’s middle-order failed to step up

This record belongs to the England pair of Jos Buttler and Alex Hales. They scored 170 unbeaten runs against India in the semi-final of the T20 World Cup 2022. Quinton de Kock and Rilee Rossouw placed second with a 168-run stand whereas Mahela Jayawardena and Kumar Sangakkara placed third with 166 runs as well.

In the 10th over Afghanistan crossed the 100-run mark and soon an eventful 25-run over from Bilal Shah, which included five no-balls and five wides, helped them go past 150. However, it was Captain Brian Masaba who drew the first blood for Uganda and cleaned up Ibrahim Zadran. Alpesh Ramjani then removed dangerous-looking Gurbaz for 76 runs.

Meanwhile, middle-orders gave away their wickets too easily without scoring much as Afghanistan could only manage 27 runs in the last five overs. Cosmas Kyewuta and Brian Masaba brought back Uganda in the match and the duo finished with two wickets each, respectively, restricting Afghanistan to a modest total of 183/5.