New Zealand is far ahead of Afghanistan in terms of ranking, ability and statistics. However, when the match was played at the West Indies ground, Kiwi captain Kane Williamson was worried about the Afghan spinners on the spin-favor pitch. In the end it happened. The Kiwi batters could not handle the spin of Rashid-Nabi. But in addition, they suffered from the pace of Fazlhaq Faruqi. With this, New Zealand was reduced to just 75 runs in front of the Afghans. Rashid Khan's team won by 84 runs.
The Afghans started their World Cup mission on a high note by defeating Uganda by a huge margin of 125 runs. This time with a big win against the Kiwis, they advanced a lot towards the next round of Super Eight. This is Afghanistan's first win against the Kiwis not only in T20 World Cup but also in T20 International. Rashids are at the top of Group-C with 4 points after winning both of the two matches. If Afghanistan wins the remaining two matches against West Indies and Papua New Guinea in any one of them, the Super Eight is guaranteed.
Meanwhile, the Kiwis started the World Cup with an accident. Even with a team full of experience, such a stumbling block was a big blow on the way to the Super Eight.
New Zealand won the toss and elected to bowl at Providence Stadium. Afghanistan put up a challenging collection of 159 runs for 6 wickets in the scheduled 20 overs.
The Kiwis fell in pursuit of that goal from the start. Farooqi's pace and Rashid's spin in 6 overs 1 to get to 33 runs on the scoreboard, their opening four batters in the dressing room. From there the rest of the batters were also in the process of coming and going. Matt Henry scored 12 runs after Glenn Phillips' 18 runs. The remaining nine batters return before reaching double figures. They were all out by scoring 75 runs in 15 overs. Farooqui and Rashid have taken four wickets each at the cost of 17 runs for the Afghans. The Nabi took the other two.
Earlier, the Afghans got off to a great start with the opening pair of Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran. Their opening pair scored 103 runs. Ibrahim returned with 44 runs there. In the end, the rest of the batsmen lost a little bit, but with Omarzai's 22 and 56 balls, Gurbaz team scored 80 runs in a great innings, and the Afghans got fighting capital.
Having made the start in the World Cup so beautiful, Afghanistan's place in the Super Eight is now only a matter of time.
Summary Scoreboard:
Afghanistan: 159/6 (20 overs) (Gurbaz 80, Ibrahim 44; Boult 2/22, Henry 2/37)
New Zealand: 75 (15.2 overs) (Phillips 18; Rashid 4/17, Farooqui 4/17)
Result: Afghanistan won by 84 runs
Man of the Match: Rahmanullah Gurbaz.