CHENNAI: Experienced Afghanistan all-rounder Gulbadin Naib scored a thousand runs in men’s T20Is on Sunday.
In Afghanistan’s ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 campaign opener against New Zealand, Knipe reached the milestone when he scored his seventh run in the eighth over of Afghanistan’s innings at the MA Chidambaram Stadium.
As a result, the 34-year-old became the ninth Afghanistan batsman to reach 1000 runs in the shorter format, joining teammates Mohammad Nabi, Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Sadran on the elusive list.
Afghanistan team has accumulated more than 1000 runs in men’s T20 matches
- Rahmanullah Gurbaz – 2166 runs in 84 innings
- Mohammad Shahzad – 2048 runs in 73 innings
- Najibullah Sadran – 1830 runs in 95 innings
- Ibrahim Sadran – 1705 runs in 62 innings
- Asghar Afghan – 1382 runs in 68 innings
- Hazratullah Jazai – 1160 runs in 45 innings
- Samiullah Shinwari – 1013 in 56 innings
- Kulbad’s Knipe – 1000 runs in 69 innings
Meanwhile, when this story was filed, Naib was unbeaten on 25 off 18 balls as he spearheaded Afghanistan’s recovery with Sethiqullah Attal following back-to-back dismissals of openers Sadran and Gurbaz.
The opening pair added 35 to give Afghanistan a steady start, both falling to Lockie Ferguson in the sixth over.
Sadran scored 10 runs off 12 balls while Gurbaz scored 27 runs off 22 balls with 2 fours and a six.
Playing XIs
New Zealand: Finn Allen, Tim Seifert(w), Rachin Ravindra, Glenn Phillips, Mark Chapman, Daryl Mitchell, Mitchell Santner(c), James Neesham, Matt Henry, Lockie Ferguson and Jacob Duffy.
Afghanistan: Rahmanullah Gurbaz(w), Ibrahim Sadran, Sediqullah Atal, Darweesh Rasooli, Asmatullah Umarzai, Kulbadin Naib, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan(c), Fazalhaq Farooqui, Mujeeb ur Rahman and Ziaur Rahman.