Exclusive: Meet Rahmanullah Gurbaz, the young Afghan who bats like AB de Villiers

Dubai - The Cricket Monthly has already picked Gurbaz as one of the 20 young players that could dominate world cricket in the 2020s

When Rahmanullah Gurbaz first picked up a cricket bat, he just wanted to play like AB de Villiers. The South African’s range of exhilarating strokes inspired the young Afghan so much that he began practising De Villiers’ bat-swing. And he started hitting the ball in a style that would now remind every cricket aficionado of the Proteas genius.

Of course, it’s one thing to try to bat like your hero and quite another to pull it off on the big stage.

And in the 19-year-old Gurbaz, Afghanistan may have unearthed a genuine batting talent – one that could follow in the footsteps of the country’s two brilliant spinners, Rashid Khan and Mujeeb Ur Rahman, as a world-class performer.

The Cricket Monthly has already picked Gurbaz as one of the 20 young players that could dominate world cricket in the 2020s. The names on that list include players like Shubman Gill, Tom Banton, Ollie Pope and Naseem Shah.

It’s not difficult to see why Gurbaz has set fans’ pulses racing. Having shown the temperament and skills to dominate bowlers in the four-day format of Afghan domestic cricket, Gurbaz enthralled fans at the 2019 Bangladesh Premier League with a 19 ball-50 for the Khulna Tigers against Chattogram Challengers.

Gurbaz then went on to become the first Afghan player to score a hundred on ODI debut with a match-winning 127 against Ireland in Abu Dhabi last month.

Couple of weeks later, Gurbaz’s stroke-play illuminated the Abu Dhabi T10 where he was one of the top performers for the Delhi Bulls, the runners-up in the competition.

“I was playing the T10 for the first time, and I got this wonderful opportunity to play with a lot of top quality international players. I never thought that I would be among the better players in this tournament,” Gurbaz told Khaleej Times.

“And, yes, it feels nice that the former players and the commenters, they liked my batting style.”

The biggest benefit of playing in the T10, according to Gurbaz, was the opportunity to pick Andy Flower’s brain.

The young wicketkeeper-batsman, who has been shortlisted for the 2021 IPL auction, believes the time spent with the Delhi Bulls coach at the T10 would help him become a better player.

“He’s a very good man, he’s a very good coach. To be honest, I talked to him after every training session. I spoke to him even in the free time. I learnt a lot of things from him,” he said.

“Now when I go back home, I will try to apply what I learnt from him. I will improve more as a player now, because he spoke to me about my weakness and about my strength. So I will work on the areas he says I need to improve.”

Gurbaz, who credited the strong domestic structure in Afghanistan cricket for the rapid progress made by many of their young players, has now set his sights on Test cricket.

“I was really happy and proud to have scored that hundred on my ODI debut. It was a very proud moment for me, my family and my nation. For every young Afghan player, they have this ambition of performing at the highest level for the country. So, I am happy that I did that in the one-day matches, now I am waiting for an opportunity to play Test cricket,” he said.

“So when I get a chance to start my Test career, I will be very determined to perform well. I want to bring lot of proud moments to my country.”