In the 14th match of the ICCT20 World Cup, the New Zealand team suffered an upset defeat by 84 runs against Afghanistan in their very first match.
In yet another T20 World Cup upset, Afghanistan bowled out the experienced New Zealand team for 75 runs chasing a target of 160 runs to win the match by 84 runs.
The Afghan bowlers kept the Kiwis batsmen trapped in their web of nippy and spinning balls from the start of the innings, with none of the Kiwi batsmen getting into double figures apart from Glenn Philip and Matt Henry.
Afghanistan’s first wicket fell on 103 runs in the 14th over when Ibrahim Zardan was bowled by Henry. Azmatullah Umarzai was the second out. He scored 22 runs off 13 balls. Back to the pavilion, captain Rashid Khan was run out on the score of 6. Gulbuddin Naib, who came to bat at number seven, could not score any runs, while Karim Jannat and Najeebullah Zardan scored one run each and remained not out. scored 159 runs for the loss of 6 wickets in the allotted 20 overs.
On behalf of New Zealand, Trent Boult and Matt Henry took 2, 2 wickets while Ferguson took one wicket. In the Group C match played in Providence, New Zealand won the toss and decided to bowl first against Afghanistan. In their first match, they defeated Uganda by a huge margin of 125 runs.
