AFG vs NZ | Hungry Afghanistan hunt for top dog status with devastating demolition of Kiwis

SportsCafe Desk

BySportsCafe Desk, SportsCafe Editor

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Afghanistan's star continued to rise in an utterly one-sided contest against New Zealand at Providence Stadium. They put up 159/6 on the board courtesy of Rahmanullah Gurbaz's 80 before devastating spells from Fazalhaq Farooqi and Rashid Khan helped bowl out the Kiwis for a paltry 75.

‌Brief score: AFG 159/6 [Gurbaz 80(56), Zadran 44(41); Boult 2/22(4)] defeat NZ 75 (15.2) [Phillips 18(18), Henry 12(15); Rashid 4/17(4)] by 84 runs

Asked to bat first, Afghanistan got to a flying start with a cracking Rahmanullah Gurbaz boundary in the first over off Trent Boult followed by three more in Matt Henry's ensuing effort. However, the Kiwis reined back the scoring rate in the powerplay thereafter with disciplined lines and lengths, the pressure inducing an edge off Ibrahim Zadran's bat at one stage that was dropped by Devon Conway. The opening duo continued to exercise caution all the way to the 10-over mark with the score reading 55/0 before deciding to flick a switch. Gurbaz kickstarted the onslaught with a heave over midwicket off Micahel Bracewell and two more maximums followed in the rest of the over. The next two over added another 21 runs to the tally and the Afghans had gone past the three-figure mark by the 14th over, making Gurbaz-Zadran the first opening pair to notch up successive century stands in T20 World Cup history.  Even though Zadran fell soon after six short of a half-century, Azmatullah Omarzai added further impetus with an explosive burst of 22 off 13 balls but his wicket sparked a mini-collapse. Gurbaz, nevertheless, kept firing at the other end and helped rack up a crucial 29 runs off the 18th and 19th over to cross the 150-run milestone. It took a brilliant final over from Boult to restrict the Afghans to 159/6 which was more than competitive on a tricky deck.

Fazalhaq Farooqi got the defence off to a dream start with a peach off an inswinger dismantling Finn Allen's stumps on the very first ball of the innings. He then added the scalps of Devon Conway and Daryl Mitchell in his two ensuing overs to leave the Kiwis in disarray at 33/3 after six overs. Skipper Rashid Khan took the moment to bring himself into the attack and replicated Farooqi's first-ball shenanigans by having Kane Williamson caught at slip with a wily field setup. Mark Chapman and Michael Bracewell fell on successive deliveries in his second over to practically end all hopes of a Black Caps victory. Veteran Mohammed Nabi all but confirmed the triumph by dismissing New Zealand's one of two double-digit scorers Glenn Phillips at the halfway mark and Farooqi's fourth scalp in the 16th over sealed the fate of the Oceanic nation. The Kiwis had been bowled out for 75, handing Afghanistan their first-ever victory in the head-to-head clash and a potential clear path through to the Super 8 stage.

Seriously

Defeated

Big wn

Dark hores

Lol

GONE

Trouble

Upset

Rolled over

Superb

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