All-round Afghanistan Beat UAE in the first T20I

Rahmanullah Gurbaz (100) and Ibrahim Zadran (59) starred with the bat as Afghanistan produced an excellent all-round performance to beat the hosts UAE by 72 in the first T20I and take a 1-0 lead in the three-match T20I series. 

Earlier in the evening, AfghanAtalan were put into bat first. Hazratullah Zazai (13) started off well by smashing a boundary in the first over followed by a towering six in the 2nd over to take Afghanistan to a good start in the game. Hazratullah Zazai lost his wicket in pursuit of scoring quick runs, but Rahmanullah Gurbaz, joined by Ibrahim Zadran, put on an excellent 137-run partnership for the 2nd wicket to help Afghanistan push forward.

The 137-run stand for the 2nd wicket between Ibrahim Zadran and Rahmanullah Gurbaz is the highest partnership for Afghanistan for the 2nd wicket in T20Is, breaking the previous record of 110 runs between Mohammad Shahzad and Asghar Afghan.  

Rahmanullah Gurbaz (100) holed out in the deep after bringing up his maiden T20I hundred. Azmatullah Omarzai joined the stand-in skipper Ibrahim Zadran (59) in the middle and provided an excellent finishing touch to the inning by scoring a quick-fire 19* off just 8 deliveries to help AfghanAtalan post 203/3 in the first half of the game.
 
In reply, Fazal Haq Farooqi went through the defenses of Khalid Shah in the first over to give Afghanistan an early success with the ball. Naveen Ul Haq then removed the opposite skipper Mohammad Waseem to leave the hosts at 6/2 in the 2nd over. Fazal Haq Farooqi took his 2nd by removing Samal Udawaththa in the 5th over to let the hosts sink further. 

The hosts showed some resistance with the bat but AfghanAtalan continued bowling in good areas to keep the batters in check. UAE top-order batter Vriitya Aravind scored an unbeaten 70*-run knock and shared 75 runs for the 5th wicket with the debutant Tanish Suri (20*) but the duo was unable to take UAE home as they only managed to score 131/4 runs in the 2nd inning and fall short of the target by 72 runs.
 
Rahmanullah Gurbaz was awarded as the best player of the match for scoring an incredible 100 off just 52 deliveries, striking 7 fours and as many towering sixes. The 2nd T20I will be played on Sunday, December 31st at the same venue.