- Afghanistan beat New Zealand to top Group C
- The Black Caps’ T20 World Cup hopes hinge on a tough match against the West Indies.
Afghanistan moved closer to qualifying for the Super Eight stages of the Twenty20 World Cup with a convincing win over New Zealand in Providence, Guyana.
The 84-run win has taken Rashid Khan’s New Zealand to the top of Group C with four points, and a huge advantage in net run rate will feel like an extra point. The win puts New Zealand under huge pressure ahead of their match against the West Indies on Thursday.
New Zealand, who have reached the semi-finals in each of the last three tournaments, were beaten for 75 points while chasing 160, and are bottom of their group, below Papua New Guinea.
“It was one of our best T20 performances against a strong team like New Zealand,” Khan said.
Afghanistan’s 159 for six came largely from opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz’s 80 runs off 56 balls.
After scoring 76 against debutants Uganda earlier this week, wicketkeeper Rahmanullah shared a century with Ibrahim Zadran to take the first wicket, who also scored 44 off 41 balls.
Afghanistan’s first-ever win over the Black Caps in a T20 international came courtesy of a brilliant bowling attack, with left-armer Fazal Haq Farooqui scoring 4 off 17 runs from 20 balls and wrist-spinner Rashid repeating those figures.
Three deliveries from Farooqui in the powerplay left New Zealand reeling and Rashid kicked the first ball wide to dismiss Kane Williamson, effectively ending the match.
“They outplayed us in every aspect,” Williamson said.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh kicked off the tournament with a close, low-scoring two-wicket win over Sri Lanka.
The defeat in Dallas all but ended any hopes of progressing out of Group D for Sri Lanka and its English head coach Chris Silverwood.
After Sri Lanka set Bangladesh a target of 125, Bangladesh fought back to reduce their opponents to 28 for 3, but Tawhid Hridoy’s 40 off 20 balls, including four sixes, brought Sri Lanka back on track.
The match took a new turn when Bangladesh slumped to 113 for eight, but Mahmudullah smashed Dasun Shanaka’s 19th ball over the ropes for an overthrow from the final over.