Skipper Rashid Khan and in-form left arm pacer Fazalhaq Farooqi grabbed four wickets each as Afghanistan stunned New Zealand by a whopping 84 runs in a T20 World Cup Group C clash at the Providence Stadium in Guyana.
T20 World Cup: New Zealand vs Afghanistan – HIGHLIGHTS
Chasing a tricky 160 at the Providence Stadium here, the 2021 runners-up were skittled out for 75 with just two batters — Glen Phillips (18) and Matt Henry (12) managing double digits as they lasted just 15.2 overs.
Farooqi and Khan returned with identical figures of 4/17.
Earlier, Left-arm pace bowler Trent Boult took the new ball, with Lockie Ferguson opening from the other end, and conceded three boundaries in a row to Zadrau, two of them from streaky shots that flew down to fine leg and third man respectively.
Zadrau was dropped on the square leg boundary by Finn Allen from a lofted hook that he appeared to lose in the lights with the batsman on 13.
Gurbaz had already received a letoff when he dabbed the ball to third man, took off for a single and was out of his crease when he was sent back, but wicketkeeper Devon Conway was unable to catch the return.
New Zealand would still have been reasonably happy at the halfway stage with Afghanistan on 55 for two, but the two openers then went on the charge.
Zadrau hit off-spinner Michael Bracewell for a brace of sixes and Gurbaz cracked Boult for another six when the pace bowler returned.
The New Zealanders finally took a wicket when Matt Henry bowled Zadrau, and Henry took a second wicket when Azmatullah Omazari was caught by Lockie Ferguson for 22. Boult returned to take two wickets in the final over with a runout.
“We were waiting for this match for the last three years,” Gurbaz said.
“We played them at the World Cup three years ago and they beat us. Finally we beat them. We had the trust and belief in ourselves from the very start. We have the belief we can beat any team in this competition on this surface,” he added.
“Afghanistan outplayed us in all facets of the game. From our perspective it wasn’t good enough in terms of starting a tournament. Very frustrating,” New Zealand captain Kane Williamson.
New Zealand came into the tournament as one of the favorites after reaching at least the semifinals at the last six white-ball World Cups — 50-over one-day internationals and Twenty20 matches.
But it also came into its opening match with no local warm-up match and with most players having been inactive for some time. That showed in the field where their performance featured dropped catches, overthrows and misfields.
(With inputs from Agencies)
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