Before IPL 2022, Gujarat Titans player and England’s explosive opener Jason Roy withdrew his name. Now news of Afghanistan’s wicket-keeper batsman Rahmanullah Gurbaz joining the team in his place is coming to the fore. Although official confirmation is yet to be made, but according to sources in Afghanistan Cricket, Cricbuzz has given this information.
However, Gujarat Titans, led by Hardik Pandya, have two wicket-keeper batsmen in the form of Wriddiman Saha and Matthew Wade. Jason Roy could open the innings as well. In such a situation, Wade and Saha can also do openings. But the franchise wants to have a backup ready keeping Saha’s controversies in mind.
Also, Cricket Australia has now allowed all players registered in the central contract to appear in the IPL from 6 April due to the current series against Pakistan. Whereas this league will start from March 26. Gujarat will play its first match against the second new team Lucknow Super Giants on March 28.
Cricbuzz has learned that all the papers of the 20-year-old Afghan wicket-keeper batsman have reached the BCCI for approval. Although the franchise has not yet given any concrete information on this, but some people associated with the Afghanistan Cricket Board have confirmed this information. Earlier, Rahmanullah Gurbaz was unsold in the auction held on February 12 and 13.
Rahmanullah Gurbaz may become the fifth Afghan player to take part in IPL 2022. In the team of Gujarat Titans, Rashid Khan and Noor Ahmed are present before Gurbaaz. Apart from this, Mohammad Nabi was bought by KKR and Fazal Haque Farooqui was bought by Sunrisers Hyderabad in the mega auction. The base price of Gurbaaz is said to be 50 lakhs.
Talking about Rahmanullah Gurbaz’s career so far, he has impressed everyone with his fiery batting. He made his T20 debut for Afghanistan in September 2019 and received the ODI cap on 21 January 2021. He has scored 428 runs in 9 ODIs at an average of 53.5 including 3 centuries.
He has 33 fours and 19 sixes in his name in ODIs. In T20 cricket, he has played 20 matches and scored 534 runs at a strike rate of 26.7. His strike rate in International T20 is 137.63. In T20 International cricket, Gurbaz has hit 39 fours and 35 sixes so far. He has also scored three half-centuries in T20 cricket.
It is worth noting that earlier Jason Roy had decided to withdraw from IPL 2022 due to family reasons and bio-bubble fatigue. Gujarat had attached Jason Roy with them at the base price of 2 crores. After this, the issue was also raised that BCCI should make such a rule that no foreign player can withdraw his name from the league except due to national service and fitness problem.