Gayle and Amla are my heroes: Hazratullah Zazai

In yesterday’s match against Nangarhar Leopards, Hazratullah Zazai of Kabul Zwanan entered history as he became the first batsman in the Afghanistan Premier League (APL) to score a century. He took only 17 balls to accomplish a half-century after which he reached his ton in 44 balls. The left-hander went on to score 124 runs from 55 balls with 12 boundaries and nine sixes.

The Zwanan were chasing 189 runs and Zazai made a mockery of the same with his belligerent strokeplay and helped his team to a seven-wicket win with 13 balls to spare. Meanwhile, the Paktia-born cricketer named Windies batsman Chris Gayle and South African batsman Hashim Amla as his heroes. Moreover, he also expressed his desire of clicking a selfie with Gayle.

“I want to just take a selfie with him [Gayle] as he and Hashim Amla are my heroes,” Zazai was quoted as saying after the match-winning performance yesterday.

I felt I had the right sort of momentum

Zazai also lauded coach Heath Streak and skipper Rashid Khan for infusing confusing confidence in him and giving him the freedom to express himself freely at the top of the order.

“I think I have only just started. I was pretty excited that the coach [Heath Streak] and captain [Rashid Khan] had the confidence to send me out there. I felt I had the right sort of momentum to play my natural game without any pressure and the shots came naturally,” he added.

In the first match against Paktia Panthers, Zazai threatened with a score of 27 but got out. In the second match against Balkh Legends, he could only manage seven runs. Kabul are next set to play Kandahar Knights, who is the only team to not have opened their account after two matches, on October 11 in Sharjah.  Kabul are placed in the second position after Balkh Legends.

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