Rahmanullah Gurbaz rewrote the record books with a breathtaking 48-ball century against India in the rain-shortened first ODI at Dharamsala. The hundred was the fastest ever by an Afghanistan batter in ODI cricket, surpassing all previous Afghan records. It was also the quickest century of Gurbaz’s ODI career, his ninth overall in the format, and the fastest ODI hundred ever recorded in an India-Afghanistan encounter.Gurbaz eventually departed for a sensational 102 off 51 balls, an innings packed with power and aggression. He struck eight fours and eight sixes before Nitish Kumar Reddy ended his remarkable stay at the crease. The right-hander had already made headlines earlier in the innings when he raced to a half-century in just 25 balls. That effort became the second-fastest ODI fifty by an Afghanistan batter, behind only Mohammad Nabi’s 24-ball fifty against Sri Lanka in Lahore in 2023. Mujeeb Ur Rahman‘s 26-ball fifty against Pakistan in Colombo completes the top three.Best conversion rate from 50s to 100s in ODIs56.25 – Rahmanullah Gurbaz (9 hundreds)43.48 – Calum MacLeod (10 hundreds)42.86 – Daryl Mitchell (9 hundreds)41.82 – Quinton de Kock (23 hundreds)41.22 – Virat Kohli (54 hundreds)(min. 7 hundreds)Fastest ODI fifties for Afghanistan (by balls faced):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 that had already seen India hand ODI debuts to left-arm spin-bowling all-rounder Harsh Dubey and fast bowler Gurnoor Brar. With rain reducing the contest to 25 overs per side, Gurbaz made full use of the shortened format, taking the attack to the Indian bowlers from the outset and producing one of the most destructive innings by an Afghanistan batter against India.
