Afghanistan decimated New Zealand at Providence Stadium in Guyana by 84 runs to claim their second-consecutive win of the ongoing ICC Men's T20 World Cup. The Afghan bowlers, led by Fazalhaq Farooqi and skipper Rashid Khan made light work of New Zealand's batting order and restricted them to merely 75 in 15.2 overs after Rahmanullah Gurbaz scored his second-consecutive half-century of the tournament.
Notably, this is New Zealand's second-lowest score in the marquee tournament and it marks a horrendous start to their World Cup campaign. Significantly, Gurbaz set the tone for Afghanistan up front and played a key role in their maiden victory over New Zealand in the shortest format of the sport.
Player of the Match, Gurbaz, scored 80 after the Kiwis invited the Asian side to bat first. Gurbaz, 22, struck five fours and as many sixes during the course of his innings. He batted at a strike rate of 142.85 and yet again allowed his opening partner Ibrahim Zadran (44 runs off 41 balls) to get his eyes in the middle.
The Afghan duo added their second-consecutive hundred-plus stand in the tournament and pushed the Kiwi bowlers onto the backfoot from the outset. The Blackcaps made a decent comeback at the death and limited Afghanistan to 159 in their 20 overs.
In reply, New Zealand's wheels came off early in pursuit of the target and they looked hapless and rusty with the bat in hand. Fazalhaq Farooqi carried his bowling form from the Uganda game into the New Zealand encounter and struck with the first ball of his spell by disturbing Finn Allen's woodwork.
The left-arm seamer combined with Rashid Khan ripped New Zealand's batting order to shreds and bundled the Oceania side for just 75 in the end. Both Farooqi and Rashid finished with figures of 4/17.
Barring Glenn Phillips (18 off as many balls) and Matt Henry (12 off 17 deliveries) none of the other Kiwi batters touched the double-digit mark. The humongous win has helped Afghanistan consolidate their top spot in Group C. They have accumulated four points and have a net run rate of 5.225.
