Ibrahim Zadran

Profile details

FULL NAME

Ibrahim Zadran

PLAYING ROLE

Batter

TEAMS

Gulf Giants

The World Cup hundred

Ibrahim Zadran's unbeaten 129 against Australia at the 2023 World Cup in Mumbai is one of the great innings in Afghanistan's history: he carried his bat through the innings, scored the country's first World Cup hundred, and put Afghanistan in a position to beat the eventual champions — only Glenn Maxwell's double hundred denied them. It was the innings that announced Zadran as a batter for the biggest stage, and he has been Afghanistan's first-choice opener since.

• Role: Batter
• Team: Gulf Giants
• Batting: Right-handed
• Bowling: Right-arm medium-fast
• Born: 12 December 2001

His game is built on technique and temperament: he plays the ball late, leaves well, and scores through the off side with a still head. He is not a power hitter in the modern mould — he is a proper opener, the kind who can bat through an innings and let the hitters play around him. That makes him unusual in T20 cricket, and valuable in a side full of hitters.

The anchor in a hitting order

Zadran's role is to be the anchor in the Giants' top order: the opener who bats through the powerplay and lets Rahmanullah Gurbaz attack from the other end. His job is to be there in the 10th over, with 40 runs to his name and the innings set up for Buttler, Klaasen and Miller. In a side where every other batter hits from ball one, the anchor is the player who makes the hitting work — because someone has to be there when the hitters fail.

At $65,000 he is a mid-priced signing, which reflects his role: not the star, but the batter the stars depend on. If Zadran scores consistently at the top, the Giants' middle order bats with freedom. If he fails, the pressure moves to the finishers.

Two Afghan openers, one plan

The Giants' opening pair is both Afghan: Zadran and Gurbaz, two batters who know each other's game from years of playing together for their country. That understanding matters in T20 cricket — openers who run well together, who know when to attack and when to defend, score more runs than two strangers. The Giants have bought a partnership, not just two players.

What’s next

The Giants open away from home, and their Afghan opening pair gets its first outing in Sharjah: Sharjah Warriorz on Sunday 22 November, in the afternoon.

• Match 2 — vs Sharjah Warriorz: Sunday 22 November 2026, afternoon session, Sharjah.
• Match 5 — vs MI Emirates: Tuesday 24 November 2026, evening session, Dubai.
• Match 10 — vs Dubai Capitals: Saturday 28 November 2026, evening session, Dubai.

Qualifier 1 is on Tuesday 16 December, the Eliminator on Wednesday 17 December, Qualifier 2 on Friday 18 December in Sharjah, and the final on Sunday 20 December in Dubai.

The full list of every ILT20 fixture is on the ILT20 Schedule page. Follow every result as it happens on SialTV, with the points table updated after every match day.