(MENAFN - Khaleej Times) When Rahmanullah Gurbaz first picked up a cricket bat, he just wanted to play like AB de Villiers. The South African's range of exhilarating strokes inspired the young Afghan so much that he began practising De Villiers' bat-swing. And he started hitting the ball in a style that would now remind every cricket aficionado of the Proteas genius.
Of course, it's one thing to try to bat like your hero and quite another to pull it off on the big stage.
And in the 19-year-old Gurbaz, Afghanistan may have unearthed a genuine batting talent one that could follow in the footsteps of the country's two brilliant spinners, Rashid Khan and Mujeeb Ur Rahman, as a world-class performer.