Rahmanullah Gurbaz

Fast behind the stumps and explosive in front of them, Rahmanullah Gurbaz had a fast ascent to becoming one of the first names on the Afghanistan team sheet.

Having impressed from a young age, he made his List A debut in 2017 at the age of 15 for Afghanistan A against Zimbabwe A, shortly before his first T20 match in the Shpageeza T20 league. The next year saw him make his First Class debut for Mis Ainak region and he was picked in Afghanistan's squad for the 2018 Under-19 World Cup. Later that year, he was Afghanistan's most prolific batter in the Under-19 Asia Cup

Gurbaz made his T20I debut in September 2019 against Zimbabwe in a tri-series in Bangladesh, scoring 43 off 24 in his first game. He scored his maiden half-century two games later and would soon establish himself as Afghanistan's first choice opener in the format.

In 2021 he earned his maiden ODI call-up for a series against Ireland, and he became the first Afghan batter to score a century on debut.

He soon established himself in the ODI team as well, forming a prolific partnership at the top with Ibrahim Zadran.

2023 was a landmark year for him personally, as he notched scores of 145 and 151 in ODIs against Bangladesh and Pakistan in a two-month period before scoring his maiden T20I century against UAE in December.

Gurbaz was then instrumental in the T20 World Cup 2024, finishing as the highest run-scorer in the tournament as Afghanistan made the semi-finals of a World Cup for the first time.

Gurbaz also became a popular pick in T20 franchise leagues across the world, playing in the BPL, LPL, CPL, PSL, ILT20 and the IPL - which he has won twice with two franchises.