In what was a seriously worrying visual for the Afghanistan team, their attacking opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz had to be carried off the field on a teammate’s shoulder after sustaining a toe injury from a yorker of Pakistani fast bowler Shaheen Afridi during the warm-up game between the two sides on Wednesday at The Gabba, Brisbane.
Pakistan skipper Babar Azam won the toss and elected to bowl first in their second warm-up fixture; they had lost to England in their first warm-up game a couple of days ago while Afghanistan had defeated Bangladesh in their warm-up game.
Shaheen Afridi made his return from a knee injury in the England game and bowled two overs up front for only 7 runs but without any wicket. Against Afghanistan, though, the left-arm pace sensation struck in his first over, having opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz plumb lbw for a golden duck, but in the process, Gurbaz got injured.
Video: Shaheen Afridi’s yorker injures Gurbaz, batter carried off the field
Looking for swing and aiming for stumps, Afridi went fuller; Gurbaz was standing outside his crease to counter the swing, but it was no avail as he couldn’t bring his bat down in time to block the yorker which straight hit on the toe of his front foot.
Gurbaz hobbled on one leg before going down. Meanwhile, the umpire had raised his finger for the plumb lbw dismissal with Shaheen in his celebration.
The Afghanistan team physio rushed in to attend to the laying-down Gurbaz, who then needed to be carried off the field on the shoulders of a substitute.
You can watch the video here:
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Afghanistan posted 154 runs in 20 overs courtesy of 51* (37) from skipper Mohammad Nabi and 32* (20) from power-hitter Usman Ghani. Shaheen Afridi, after dismissing Gurbaz, also took out the other opener, Hazratullah Zazai, and finished with 2/29. Haris Rauf also bagged a brace. The match got abandoned, however, after 2.2 overs in Pakistan’s innings due to heavy rain.
Pakistan will kick-off their T20 World Cup 2022 campaign against India on October 23 while Afghanistan will take on England on October 22.
