New Zealand made their way towards the semi-final comfortably, beating Afghanistan by eight wickets in an important group match. It was the last fixture for both the teams, and the fate of both the teams to qualify was dependant on the match’s outcome.
New Zealand chased down the small target of 125 with 11 balls to spare, to secure a Top-2 finish in Group 2, with eight points from five matches. The win meant that the Black Caps are through to the semi-final by eliminating both the Afghans and the Indians.
In a day match, Afghanistan opted to bat first, with a plan to set a score that would help their bowlers to defend. They had won six of their seven games in the UAE after winning the toss and batting first.
The clash of the top order
Hazratulla Zazai and Mohammed Shahzad opened the innings for Afghanistan against one of the best bowling attacks in the world. After some tight bowling by Tim Southee and Trent Boult, Shahzad fell prey to Adam Milne’s express pace in the third over.
Zazai followed Shahzad in the next over, with Boult picking out the southpaw with a short ball. Boult was exceptional yesterday, picking three wickets in his four overs at an economy rate of just 4.25.
Three players from the Afghan side read the situation well while batting with a bit of responsibility to make sure that Afghanistan bowlers had something on their hands to defend.
Gulbadin Naib and Najibullah Zadran then combined to steady Afghanistan’s innings with a partnership of 37 off 29 balls. After the dismissal of Naib, Mohammad Nabi joined hands with Zadran and helped Afghanistan post a total that their bowlers had a chance of defending. The duo put on 59 for the third wicket.
Zadran was impressive in the middle overs and ended with a score of 73, the highest score of the match. In the middle overs (overs 7-15), Zadran was averaging 52 runs per dismissal with a strike rate of 126 across the tournament. His score of 73 included six Fours and three Sixes, coming off just 48 balls.
Slow and steady chase by the Black Caps
Martin Guptill and Daryl Mitchell gave a decent start with the bat for New Zealand. However, Mitchell left the crease during the fourth over, with Mujeeb Ur Rahman picking the opener.
Post that, skipper Williamson took the guard and took the game forward by playing cautiously, and steadily heading towards the achievable target along with Guptill, who scored 28 runs from 23 balls. Guptill departed during the ninth over, and was dismissed by the leggie Rashid Khan, who claimed his 400th T20 wicket.
Kane Williamson took the control of the chase and played just two false shots since his arrival at the crease while scoring an unbeaten 40 runs at a strike rate of 95.23.
After a blistering start in the Powerplay, the Afghan bowlers put screws on the New Zealand batting in the middle-overs. Williamson, along with Devon Conway, won the game for the Black Caps in 18.1 overs with the latter scoring an unbeaten 36 runs off 32 balls.