T20 World Cup 2024: Gurbaz, Rashid And Farooqi Star In Afghanistan's First-ever T20I Win Over New Zealand, Clinch 84-run Victory
Source: Jagran English
NZ vs AFG, T20 World Cup 2024: Afghanistan skipper Rashid Khan led from the front, helping his side bowl the Blackcaps out for just 75 runs in their 20 overs while chasing a challenging total.
NZ vs AFG, T20 World Cup 2024: Afghanistan defeated New Zealand by 84 runs in match 14 of the ongoing T20 World Cup 2024 at the Providence Stadium in Guyana on Friday, June 7.
The Group C fixture saw New Zealand getting humiliated in their first match of the tournament whereas Afghanistan clinched their second win.
Afghanistan skipper Rashid Khan led from the front, helping his side bowl the Blackcaps out for just 75 runs in their 20 overs while chasing a challenging total.
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Rashid picked up four wickets for just 17 runs in his four overs whereas Fazalhaq Farooqi also finished with four wickets as Afghanistan picked up their first-ever win over New Zealand.
After being put into bat first, Afghanistan did well to post a challenging total of 159/6 in their 20 overs on the back of a remarkable knock from Rahmanullah Gurbaz.
Gurbaz smashed 80 runs in 56 balls with the help of five fours and as many sixes, whereas Ibrahim Zadran scored 44 off 41.
Trent Boult and Matt Henry picked up two wickets each whereas Lockie Ferguson took a wicket each as well.
Chasing the target, the Blackcaps were never on track as they kept losing wickets at regular intervals and were bowled out in just 15.2 overs.
Glenn Phillips was the top run-getter for them as he scored 18 runs in as many balls whereas Matt Henry scored 12 runs.
Apart from Phillips and Henry, no other batter managed to reach the double digits/
For Afghanistan, all the bowlers put up a remarkable effort with Mohammad Nabi also picking up two wickets for just 16 runs in his four overs.
"Nothing is (more) special than this. We have been waiting for this victory for the last three years. We faced them and they beat us, finally, we beat them. The trust and the belief were there from the very start. We had the trust that we could beat any team in this competition. The wicket was not easy, the total was very good, very happy," said Rahmanullah Gurbaz after being adjudged as the Player of the Match.
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Afghanistan now stand at the top of the Group C points table with two wins in two matches and they have a magnificent net run rate of +5.225 under their belt.
They will be up against Papua New Guinea in their next match at Brian Lara Stadium, Tarouba in Trinidad on Thursday, June 13.