AUS vs AFG: Afghanistan openers Gurbaz and Zadran break record held by Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma

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AUS vs AFG: The Afghanistan opening pair of Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran broke the record held by India batting pair of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma with their 118-run partnership in the Super 8 match against Australia in St Vincent on Sunday, June 23.

After being asked to bat first on a difficult batting surface, Gurbaz and Zadran showed tremendous character to keep Australia wicketless for more than 15 overs and stitch a match-winning century stand to help Afghanistan post 148/6 at the end of 20 overs.

Afghanistan could add only 30 runs after the departure of Rahamnullah Gurbaz on the fifth ball of the 16th over. Gurbaz top-scored for Afghanistan with 60 runs off 49 balls, while Zadran also chipped in with 51 off 48 balls.

Australia fell 21 runs short of the target as Afghanistan registered their historic first win against Australia to stay alive in the race for semi-finals of T20 World cup 2024.

With their 188-run stand, Gurbaz and Zadran established multiple records together. The pair now has three hundred-plus partnerships at the T20 World Cups - the most by any batting pair in a single edition of the ICC showpiece event.

The record was jointly held by the India batting pair of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma (twice in T20 World Cup 2014), Australian legends Adam Gilchrist and Matthew Hayden (twice in T20 World Cup 2007), and Pakistan stars Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan (twice in T20 World Cup 2021).

Most 100+ partnerships in a single edition of T20 World Cup

• 3 - R Gurbaz & Ibrahim Zadran in 2024*
• 2 - A Gilchrist & M Hayden in 2007
• 2 - Rohit Sharma & Virat Kohli in 2014
• 2 - Babar Azam & M Rizwan in 2021

Also, Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Zadran equalled Babar Azam and Ibrahim Zadran's record for most century partnerships at the T20 World Cup. Both the batting pairs have achieved the thrice twice.

Most 100+ partnerships in T20 World Cups

• 3 - Babar Azam & M Rizwan
• 3 - R Gurbaz & Ibrahim Zadran

Afghanistan will now want India to beat Australia before they beat Bangladesh on Tuesday to qualify for the semi-finals of the T20 World Cup 2024.