Friday, 25 April 2025
Friday, 25 April 2025
In his third season with the Kolkata Knight Riders, Rahamanullah Gurbaz can be called a Bengali at heart. Because apart from padding up in purple and gold, he has developed an abiding taste for phuchka and rosogolla.
The right-handed batter from Afghanistan sauntered into South City mall on Friday, and The Telegraph Online spotted him digging into a scrumptious salad at Scrapyard. But in his heart of hearts, he probably wanted to savour some Kolkata street food.
“I love the food in Kolkata, my favourite is rasgulla but I can’t have as much as I like because it’s very sweet,” he said.
Gurbaz calls Kolkata his second home. “I always refer to this city as a second home. The love and respect people show me here is unbelievable. In Kolkata, I think the fans are very passionate (about cricket).”
Everytime Gurbaz is in Kolkata for the purple brigade, taking a stroll inside South City Mall is a mandatory exercise. “I like South City Mall, I always come here to shop.” And the compliments fly in from all corners. As he happily window-shopped at Zara, a fan shouted “you’re so handsome jaani”. All Gurbaz could do was blush and move on.
He knows he is handsome. “I think I am handsome.(giggles) But no, I really like how much love the fans show towards me and I want to show my love for them as well,” he says.
So what’s Gurbaz’s IPL prediction?
During the 2024 T20 World Cup, Gurbaz had said that Afghanistan would make the semi-finals. And so they did. But what about this year’s IPL?
“You’re always here to be champion, honestly. Whether we qualify or not, that’s out of our control, but hard work and consistency, that’s in our control. We will try our best and we’ll see if the hard work turns into success,” he said.
