Afghanistan’s right-handed opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz revealed the moment Pakistan’s then-skipper Babar Azam gifted him a bat after the Afghans recorded a historic win against the Men in Green in the ICC World Cup 2023.
Hashmatullah Shahidi’s men restricted Pakistan to 282/7 while bowling and they ended up chasing the target comfortably with just two wickets lost after 49 overs.
Babar had promised Gurbaz to give him his bat and the Pakistani great sure lived up to his promise.
In a recent chat with a Pakistan content creator Momin Saqib, Gurbaz revealed that Babar was sad, disappointed, and was about to cry while he was gifting him his bat.
“Once he brought the bat he was so disappointed and I can feel as a player, I can feel that you know, when you lost the game and then this kind of situation where he was under so much pressure,” Gurbaz said.
“Trust me, I was not trying to say this in front of the camera but I want to say that he was about to cry. He was so disappointed that I’ve never seen any player like that. Everyone was against him, but I salute Babar bhai, he was so strong and he just kept going. He never gave up.”
Speaking about when did he ask for the 29-year-old’s bat and what is he doing with it now, the Afghan youngster revealed that his younger brother is a big fan of Azam.
“My younger brother is a big fan of Babar. He was asking for the shirt and bat and I took that from Babar bhai, he didn’t say no to me. I will never forget that. I always pray that he achieves a lot more in his career,” he added.
It must be noted that Pakistan failed to reach the knockout stages in the World Cup as they had lost five matches — the most in their mega event history — in the round-robin stage.
- Babar Azam