48-ball mayhem! Rahmanullah Gurbaz rewrites history with ton vs India

Rahmanullah Gurbaz of Afghanistan (AP Photo) Rahmanullah Gurbaz rewrote the record books with a breathtaking 48-ball century against India in the rain-shortened first ODI in Dharamsala. The hundred was the fastest ever by an Afghan batsman in ODI cricket and broke all previous Afghan records. It was also the fastest ODI century of Gurbaz’s career, his ninth overall in the format and the fastest ODI hundred ever scored in an India-Afghanistan encounter.Gurbaz eventually departed for a sensational 102 off 51 balls, an innings full of power and aggression. He hit eight fours and eight sixes before Nitish Kumar Reddy ended his remarkable stay at the wicket. The right-hander grabbed the headlines earlier in the innings when he reached his half-century in just 25 balls. The effort became the second fastest ODI fifty by an Afghan batsman, behind Mohammad Nabi’s only fifty against Sri Lanka in Lahore in 2023. Mujeeb Ur Rahman’s fifty against Pakistan in Colombo completes the top three.Best conversion rate from 50 to 100 sv ODI56:25 – Rahmanullah Gurbaz (9 hundreds)43.48 – Calum MacLeod (10 hundred)42.86 – Daryl Mitchell (9 hundreds)41.82 – Quinton de Kock (23 hundreds)41:22 – Virat Kohli (54 hundreds)(min. 7 hundred)Fastest ODI Fifties for Afghanistan (by balls):24 balls – Mohammad Nabi vs Sri Lanka, Lahore, 202325 balls – Rahmanullah Gurbaz vs India, Dharamsala, 202626 balls – Mujeeb Ur Rahman vs Pakistan, Colombo, 2023Gurbaz’s fireworks also helped Afghanistan register only their second century partnership against India in ODI cricket. The previous three-figure stand came during the 2023 ODI World Cup in Delhi when Azmatullah Omarzai and Hashmatullah Shahidi added 121 runs.His stunning innings came in a match in which India had already made their ODI debut with left-arm spin-bowling all-rounder Harsh Dubey and fast bowler Gurnoor Brar. With rain reducing the match to 25 overs a side, Gurbaz took full advantage of the shortened format, attacking the Indian bowlers from the outset and producing one of the most devastating innings by Afghanistan’s batting against India.