Gulbadin Naib
Gulbadin Naib Credits: Twitter

Indian veteran off-spinner Ravichandran was quite impressed by Afghanistan all-rounder Gulbadin Naib’s magnificent half-century against India in the third and final T20I on Wednesday. The Afghanistan finisher scored 55* off 23 balls, batting until the final ball and taking the match to the Super Over.

Chasing a challenging total against India, Afghanistan demonstrated incredible resilience against the quality Indian bowling attack, with noteworthy contributions from Rahmanullah Gurbaz (50 off 32), Ibrahim Zadran (50 off 41), Mohammad Nabi (34 off 16), and the breakout player, Gulbadin, who scored 55 off 23 balls. The visitors met their exact target of 212, resulting in a draw.

Naib took over after the Afghan openers had put up 93 runs for the first wicket. However, Afghanistan were reduced to 107/3 in the thirteenth over. Gulbadin Naib and Mohammad Nabi added a critical fifty-plus stand to keep the ship stable. Following Nabi’s departure, Naib took control and stayed until the conclusion, forcing a tie.

Gulbadin Naib
Gulbadin Naib Credits: Twitter

Afghanistan needed 19 to win off the last six balls, and it took a valiant effort from Gulbadin Naib to get 18 runs in the final over. And it was made possible by Gulbadin’s six and four hits in the final over and this brilliant inning on Wednesday came after he hit 57 in the second encounter in Indore off just 35 balls being the lone bright spot in their batting.

Ravichandran Ashwin was taken aback by Naib’s performance against India, in the three-match T20 series, as he took a dig at the IPL franchise owners. The veteran Indian all-rounder stated that Gulbadin has shown himself as a reliable finisher, and all he needs now is for one of the ten clubs to give him a chance.

 “Gulbadin Naib says “notice me please, will you”?? I am a finisher from Asia with a base price of 50 L . Fantastic batting to get this game to a super over,” Ravichandran Ashwin wrote on his X handle.

Mohammad Nabi and Gulbadin Naib were Afghanistan’s most impact batters in the recently-concluded T20I series against India, While pretty much all the Afghan batters struggled to put the Indian bowlers under pressure throughout the series, Nabi and Gulbadin were hitting boundaries at will and could be the key to the team’s success in the forthcoming 2024 T20 World Cup.

Gulbadin Naib, who captained Afghanistan in the 2019 ODI World Cup, went unsold in the IPL mini auction held in December of last year. In the Super Over, Gulbadin was run out off the first ball, but it was Nabi who hammered an all-important six off Mukesh Kumar’s penultimate delivery to help Afghanistan reach a total of 16 runs in the first Super Over.