Twitter Reactions: Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Karim Janat and Asghar Afghan crush Zimbabwe in first T20I

After the two-match Test series, it was now time for the T20Is to begin. Afghanistan has been in good form and it was always going to be tough for the Zimbabwe side to beat them. The Asian team lost the toss and were sent in to bat first. As seen in T20s recently, the teams batting first have found it very difficult to come out victorious.

Zimbabwe had the advantage and now it was upto them to make good use of this. The Afghanistan openers though had other plans. They started off with a bang and scored 66 runs in the powerplay without losing any wicket. Rahmanullah Gurbaz brought up his fifty in 26 balls however Karim Jannat lost his wicket in that very over.

The fall of a wicket did not stop the batsman from attacking as 28 runs came off the next two overs. The scoreboard read 108/1 at the end of 10 overs. It seemed like Afghanistan would make a score in the range of 210-220 for sure. Gurbaz lost his wicket in the 15th over after scoring a brilliant 45-ball 87. His inning included six boundaries and four sixes.

Afghanistan go 1-0 up in the three match series

Thr Zimbabwe bowlers bowled well in the death overs and conceded only 42 runs in the last five overs. The Afghan side finished with a score of 198 which was always going to be very tough to chase down. Richard Ngarava and Blessing Muzarabani finished with two wickets each.

Zimbabwe got off to a decent start with the bat. They scored 47 runs in the first six overs at the cost of one wicket. Tinashe Kamunhukamwe played a good knock scoring 44 runs in 37 balls. They problem though was that his inning came at a very low strike rate. The other batsman too got starts but all of them failed to capitalize on it.

The fact that no other batsman crossed 25 runs shows why the side fell short in the run chase. They managed to score only 150 runs in their 20 overs and fell short by 48 runs. Rashid Khan starred with the ball as he took three wickets conceding only 28 runs in his four overs. The Zimbabwe side will have to put up a much better show in the next game to challenge this Afghanistan team.

Here are the best tweets

🏏 Rahmanullah Gurbaz – 87
🏏 Asghar Afghan – 55

A stunning batting performance has helped Afghanistan post 198/5 against Zimbabwe in the first T20I 🔥#AFGvZIM ➡️ https://t.co/EnxwWlgVcA pic.twitter.com/HX3Xb3Dsqn

— ICC (@ICC) March 17, 2021

Afghanistan young super-star Gurbaz continues to roar in T20 – 50* from just 26 balls including 6 fours and 2 sixes against Zimbabwe in first T20. He is making a big impact in Afghanistan and just 19 years old. #AFGvZIM pic.twitter.com/B5b66MBRlD

— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) March 17, 2021

What a knock from 19-year-old Gurbaz, 87 runs from 45 balls including 6 fours and 7 sixes – he has been in red hot form in shorter format, might get lots of contract in future. #AFGvZIM

— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) March 17, 2021

Gurbaz is such an exceptional T20 striker. We will see more of him around the world. #AFGvZIM

— Manya (@CSKian716) March 17, 2021

One t20 innings and 'contract chatter' starts … How things have changed for the good! 🙂 https://t.co/v3ixTxhnGb

— SportRadioAS (@SportRadioAS1) March 17, 2021

Ibrahim Zadran in Tests, Rahmanullah Gurbaz in T20s. Couple of talented opening batsmen for Afghanistan in different formats.#AFGvZIM #Cricket

— CricBlog ✍ (@cric_blog) March 17, 2021

Wesley Madhevere's 2 runs from 4 balls lasted 11 minutes in today's #AFGvZIM T20I; that's one minute more than all his 3 Test innings combined (0, 0, 0).

His last five international scores: 2, 0, 0, 0, 9: I really, really hope he smashes a hundred in Friday's T20I#Cricket

— Mark Puttick (@GryllidaeC) March 17, 2021

Rahmanullah Gurbaz , 20 years old, Afghani wicket-keeper seems decent prospect.

This hard hitting opener struck 87 runs in 45 balls with SR of 193. He hit 6 fours & 7 sixes 🔥🔥 #AFGvZIM

In 11 T20Is he averages 38.09 with SR 149. (Total 419 runs)

— Ranny* 🏏 (@13Ranny_tweets) March 17, 2021