Top News

Chennai. The New Zealand cricket team has started its campaign in the ICC T-20 World Cup with a win. New Zealand defeated Afghanistan by five wickets in the Group D match played at MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai on Sunday.

After winning the toss and batting first, Afghanistan team scored 182 runs for six wickets in 20 overs, thanks to the half-century of Gulbadin Naib (63 runs). In reply, New Zealand achieved the target by scoring 183 runs for the loss of five wickets in 17.5 overs with the help of wicket-keeper batsman Tim Seifert’s half-century of 65 runs.

New Zealand had a bad start while chasing the target of 183 runs. Rachin Ravindra was out without opening the account, while Finn Allen could score only one run. After this, Tim Seifert and Glenn Phillips took charge of the innings and made an important partnership of 74 runs for the third wicket.

Phillips scored 42 runs in 25 balls with the help of seven fours and one six. Seifert played a brilliant inning of 65 runs in 42 balls with seven fours and three sixes.

New Zealand got the fifth blow in the form of Mark Chapman. He was out after scoring 28 runs on 17 balls. After this, Daryl Mitchell and captain Mitchell Santner batted fast and took the team to victory. Mitchell remained unbeaten on 25 runs on 14 balls and Santner remained unbeaten on 17 runs on eight balls.

For Afghanistan, Mujeeb Ur Rehman took two wickets, while Azmatullah Omarzai, Rashid Khan and Mohammad Nabi got one wicket each.

Earlier, Afghanistan had scored 182 runs losing 6 wickets in 20 overs. Ibrahim Zadran and Rahmanullah Gurbaz gave a good start to the team and added 35 runs for the first wicket. However, both the openers were out in the powerplay itself. Zadran scored 10 runs and Gurbaz scored 27 runs.

After this, Sediqullah Atal and Gulbadin Naib made a half-century partnership and took the team’s score beyond 100 runs. Sediqullah was out after scoring 29 runs, while Gulbadin Naib played an important inning of 63 runs in 35 balls with the help of three fours and four sixes.

Darwish Rasooli (20) and Omarzai (14) added quick runs in the last overs, while Mohammad Nabi remained unbeaten on 10 runs. For New Zealand, Lockie Ferguson took two wickets, while Matt Henry, Jacob Duffy and Rachin Ravindra got one wicket each.