New Zealand, a team that has consistently made to the knockouts stage in the ICC World Cups (ODI and T20) for six times in a row since 2015, may have had that run end in the Caribbean in the ongoing T20 World Cup as the Black Caps are in need of a miracle to go through to the Super 8 from Group C. Suffering defeats in both the games played so far hasn't helped New Zealand as they were beaten by Afghanistan comprehensively while against the West Indies they had their moments but couldn't hold onto the game in crunch moments.
Now, New Zealand, with a -2.425 NRR, not only have to win their remaining two games against Papua New Guinea and Uganda but also have to hope that Afghanistan lose rest of their games. Afghanistan already have four points in the bag and with a NRR of as high as +5.2, New Zealand have to hope that the Rashid Khan-led side not only loses its remaining two matches but also by big margins.
New Zealand are effectively knocked out but are still alive by the barest of margins and will need a few miracles to take place. New Zealand are set to play PNG on Friday, June 14 (local time) and then on June 17 evening against Uganda at the same venue they played against the West Indies.
The 2021 T20 World Cup finalists will rue their chances in the game against the West Indies. Having West Indies down at 30/5 and even at 112/9, the Black Caps would have fancied their chances to keep the hosts down to 130-135 but Sherfane Rutherford had other ideas as he blew them away in the last two overs scoring 37 runs.
West Indies kept taking wickets regularly as Glenn Phillips fought a lone battle only for New Zealand to fall short by 13 runs. West Indies have already qualified for Super 8 from Group C and one more win for Afghanistan will do it for them as well.
