Afghanistan’s 2024 T20 World Cup campaign began with a match against New Zealand. On June 8, both teams engaged in combat at Providence Stadium in Georgetown, Guyana. Afghanistan lost the toss and chose to bat first in the opening exchange of the match.
With openers Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran scoring 80 and 44 runs, respectively, the team got off to an amazing start. Azmatullah Omarzai increased the score by another 22 runs. Nevertheless, none of the other hitters had much success following the mastery of the top order.
New Zealand made inroads into the game by limiting Rashid Khan & Co. to 159 runs in the opening innings. With two wickets apiece in the first innings, Trent Boult and Matt Henry were New Zealand’s top wicket-takers. Additionally, Lockie Ferguson claimed one wicket.
Afghanistan’s outstanding bowling defeats New Zealand
The Kiwis were aiming to chase down a target of 160 runs, but they had a terrible start to the target. Devon Conway left for eight runs, and Finn Allen left for none. Kane Williamson and Daryl Mitchell came next, putting five and nine runs on the board, respectively.
Glenn Phillips led the BlackCaps in scoring with 18 runs in the second inning on runs-a-ball, followed by Matt Henry with 12. New Zealand was bowled out for a mere 75 runs thanks to the Afghans’ outstanding bowling performance.
Also read: T20 World Cup 2024: NZ vs. AFG: Who said what?
With four wickets in four overs, Rashid Khan was Afghanistan’s standout performer. In the process, Rashid only gave up 17 runs. In addition, Afghanistan won the match by 84 runs and claimed their second victory of the T20 World Cup 2024, thanks to four wickets taken by Fazalhaq Farooqi and two strikes from Muhammad Nabi.
Here’s how X reacted to the game:
Superb all-round performance from the men in blue @ACBofficials. Well played @rashidkhan_19 @RGurbaz_21 @fazalfarooqi10 @IZadran18 @MohammadNabi007 and all the players, staff, fans and the entire nation.
Mubarak mo sha!#NZvAFG #T20WorldCup pic.twitter.com/2OLk58NB5XMirwais Ashraf (@MirwaisAshraf16): June 8, 2024
Another huge win for Afghanistan! New Zealand are all out at 15.2
https://t.co/lpl1l6OPbF
ale (@alexarcello) June 8, 2024
100+ opening stand by Gurbaz and Ibrahim, Fazalhaq destroying the top order, then Rashid running through the middle order. Top notch professional display from Afghanistan! NZ on the other hand looked extremely under prepared and paid a heavy price. #NZvAFG #T20WorldCup pic.twitter.com/OJ0Oam31MQ
— Wasim Jaffer (@WasimJaffer14) June 8, 2024
Afghanistan has announced their arrival by drubbing NZ by 84 runs. #T20WC24
— Dubious Caesar
(@CaesarDubious) June 8, 2024
Heartfelt appreciation for this Afghanistan team. Always wanted to see them become this juggernaut of a team. Since that Asia Cup where SL won, they’ve only gone from strength to strength. Their growth however began much before that. Hope they keep going like this. #NZvAFG
— Gaurav Jois (@gaurav_jois) June 8, 2024
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