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Kolkata Knight Riders opening batter Rahmanullah Gurbaz revealed his mother's message before he stepped up to play in the Indian Premier League 2024 final against Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Earlier in the season, the 22-year-old Afghan player left the IPL to be with his mother, who was experiencing health issues. After lifting the trophy with the Riders in the final with an emphatic win, Gurbaz recalled the conversation with his mother and asking what she wanted. The thing that she wanted from her son was to win the game. "I think she will be watching, she is ok now. Before the match, I spoke to my mom. I asked what do you want, and she said, nothing just win," Gurbaz told the broadcasters after the game. During the tournament, KKR lost their star opener Phil Salt after England decided to call their T20 World Cup-bound players back for their ongoing four-match T20I series against Pakistan. Gurbaz returned to the Knights camp as a replacement for Salt. The 27-year-old led KKR's attack from the front and scored 435 runs in 12 matches in the 17th edition of the tournament. The 22-year-old opened up about replacing the in-form opener and said, "Salty played really well and my expectation was as the World Cup was coming, I wanted to prepare, also I had to be ready if Salty got injured, I got it and I was well prepared." Gurbaz lifted his second IPL title after securing it with Gujarat Titans in 2022. The Afghan batter expressed the "special feeling" of achieving the feat twice. "Twice I'm champion of IPL, I'm lucky. When you work hard for two months and the result when it comes like this is special," Gurbaz concluded. KKR clinched the IPL 2024 title with a dominating all-round performance against SRH in the final at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. Their third title celebrations began at the same ground Chepauk where they lifted thier maiden title in 2012 under the leadership of Gautam Gambhir. They scripted an encore to lift their third trophy. The KKR bowlers left the Sunrisers dumbstruck to restrict the free-scoring SRH batting line-up to 113. In reply, KKR chased down in only 10.3 overs with eight wickets in hand. Gurbaz played his role with a 39-run knock coming off 32 deliveries with five fours and two maximums serving as the icing on the cake. (ANI)
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