Farooqi and Rashid shine as Afghanistan upset New Zealand with a massive 84 run win

Source: Cricket Country
Author: Ansh Sharma

Guyana: New Zealand kicked off their T20 World Cup 2024 campaign against Afghanistan who were coming off a superb win against Uganda. The match was played at the Providence stadium located in Guyana. The Black Caps won the toss decided to bowl first.

Both Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran continued their great form and just like in the match against Uganda, they formed another 100-run partnership. Matt Henry took Zadran's wicket to break the partnership at 103 runs, however, Gurbaz was in no mood of stopping as he battered the New Zealand bowlers with 5 fours and sixes each. His knock of 80 carried Afghanistan to a score of 159/6 in 20 overs.

It was kind of a disappointing total as the 'Afghan Lions' were really flying at one stage and looked certain to reach a total of above 170. Henry and Trent Boult were the best bowlers for New Zealand with 2 wickets each.

In reply, the New Zealand innings started to crumble from the start with opener Finn Allen losing his wicket to Fazalhaq Farooqi on the very first ball. The Black Caps lost half of their batsmen on a mere score of 43 with both Farooqi and Rashid Khan taking the wickets.

They lost the other half of their innings for only 32 runs and were bowled out at the score of 75. Captain Rashid Khan led from the front with 4 wickets alongside Farooqi who also took 4 wickets and took his total for the tournament to 9 wickets. He by far remains the top wicket-taker of the tournament.

With this huge win, Afghanistan remains at the top of their group with 4 points while New Zealand not only lost their opening game, they lost it by a big margin and will now look to come back strongly in their next group game against the West Indies.