Mumbai

Afghanistan opening batter Ibrahim Zadran has thanked legendary former Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar for the century he scored against Australia at the World Cup. Zadran carried his bat through and scored a 143-ball 129-run innings, laced with eight boundaries and three maximums in front of a noisy Wankhede crowd. 

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Zadran also became the first Afghanistan batter to hit a century in the World Cup and helped set the country's highest total in the marquee tournament. 

"I had a good chat with Sachin Tendulkar yesterday, he shared a lot of his experiences that I can’t express. I’m very thankful to him for sharing his 24-year playing experience and giving me a lot of confidence. I said before the match that I will bat like Sachin Tendulkar," said Zadran during the mid-innings break. 

Tendulkar visited the Afghanistan team's practice session on Monday and held a lengthy chat with all the players and support staff. Later during the session, he was pictured engrossed in one-on-one conversations with players, discussing batting stance, follow-through, field settings and a lot more.

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Quizzed further about his scintillating innings, Zadran said that he had been anticipating a century after missing out on one against Pakistan. 

"Feeling very good to become the first Afghan player to score a 100 in the World Cup. I want to score many more hundreds. I worked very hard for this tournament. Against Pakistan, I missed my ton, so I wanted to make it up in this game. I was feeling like I’d get a hundred in the next 3 matches."

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Batting first, Afghanistan came up with a set plan and stuck to it right till the end. The batters played cautiously initially before teeing up during the death overs. Alongside Zadran, it was Rashid Khan (35* off 18) at the end that helped Afghanistan post a competitive total. As of the last update, Australia had been dealt an early setback in the form of Travis Head who nicked an outswinger from Naveen-ul-Haq to wicketkeeper Ikram Alikhil. 

Playing XIs

Australia: Travis Head, David Warner, Mitchell Marsh, Marnus Labuschagne, Josh Inglis (wk), Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Pat Cummins (c), Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood

Afghanistan: Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Ibrahim Zadran, Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi (c), Azmatullah Omarzai, Mohammad Nabi, Ikram Alikhil (wk), Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Noor Ahmad, Naveen-ul-Haq