New Zealand beat Afghanistan by eight wickets in the 2021 T20 World Cup at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi yesterday (07).
It was important for the New Zealand team to win the match to advance to the semi-finals, and it was important for the Afghan team to win the match very well and increase their gross scoring speed.
Therefore, Afghanistan captain Mohammad Nabi won the toss and elected to bat first.
After building a 59-run stand for the fifth wicket with Najibullah Zadran, skipper Nabi was dismissed for 14 off a ball by Tim Southee to take his total to 115 for five.
Najibullah Zadran, the savior of Afghanistan’s innings, scored 73 off 48 balls with three sixes and six fours before being bowled by Trent Boult.
The New Zealand bowlers bowled brilliantly in the last few overs to help the Afghans reach 124 for eight in their allotted 20 overs.
Mujeeb Ur Rahman smashed Daryl Mitchell’s 17 for the first wicket as New Zealand were bowled out for 26 in their first innings.
After building a 31-run partnership with Kane Williamson for the second wicket, Rashid Khan took 400 wickets in 20 overs (both international and non-international), dismissing Martin Guptill for 28.
Kane Williamson and Devon Conway added 68 runs for the third wicket before New Zealand were bowled out for just two wickets in 18.1 overs.
Kane Williamson scored 40 off 42 balls with three fours while Devon Conway scored 36 off 32 balls with four fours.
With this victory, Pakistan and New Zealand qualified for the semi-finals of the second group and India and Afghanistan had to withdraw from the tournament.
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