Afghanistan mauled New Zealand to a crushing defeat by 84 runs and have grabbed the top spot in the Group C in T20 World Cup. The match was played at the Providence stadium or Guyana National Stadium on June 07. The Group C of T20 World Cup include Afghanistan, Papua New Guinea, New Zealand, Uganda and West Indies.
The group stage matches have kicked off from June 02. The first group stage match of Group C featured Afghanistan and Uganda in the Guyana. Afghanistan started off the campaign with a statement win against New Zealand and Uganda.
New Zealand captain won the toss and handed the batting to Afghans. In all dominance, Rahmanullah Gurbaz scored 80 off 56 balls (five fours, five sixes), along with Ibrahim Zadran (44 off 41) registered a strong stand fueling Afghanistan’s total of 159. Azmatullah also added a significant score of 22 runs to make the chase hard for Black Caps.
Chasing a target of 160, Kiwis were humbled by Afghanistan with their daunting bowling show on the field, claiming the first ever win against New Zealand in T20 World Cup 2024. Back to back four wickets fell with only 33 runs at 6.1 overs, as Afghanistan tightened its grip on the match.
Formidable leg-spinner Rashid Khan wreaked havoc by a haul of four for 17. Even captain Kane Williamson in opposition was dismissed on the first ball of his spell to effectively end the match as a contest. In 15.2 overs New Zealand was bundled out at 75 runs.
Though New Zealand had a shaky start to the tournament, it may redeem itself in the next group stage fixtures. The next game of New Zealand is on June 12, where it will be facing the co-hosts, West Indies at Trinidad. After that the next fixture of New Zealand will be with Uganda and the last group stage game will be placing New Zealand against Papua New Guinea.
Afghanistan started off the campaign with a statement win against New Zealand and Uganda. Afghans, in all hopes will take on Papua New Guinea tomorrow at the same venue, Guyana National Stadium. This will be Afghanistan’s third group stage fixture. In the first match, Afghanistan won against Uganda by 125 runs.
After this match, Afghanistan will have the last group stage match in queue. In the final group stage match, Afghanistan will feature itself against the two time champions, West Indies.
Tabinda Mir is a writer from Kashmir. She is an English Honours graduate and her interests primarily dwell in poetry and sports writing. She likes to cover Cricket as an avid fan. Apart from sports, her other publications include articles, poems and a letter to summer in the book titled, “Under The Summer Skies”.
Also, her leisure time activities include reading novels, poetry, non literary works, philosophies and writing poetry, short stories, articles on diverse themes.
