On Wednesday, New Zealand defeated Afghanistan by 149 runs at MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. Black Caps recorded a thumping victory in a thoroughly one-sided World Cup match. As a result of this match, the Black Caps remain unbeaten in the tournament so far.
Chasing a tough target of 289 runs on a spinner-friendly ground in Chennai, Afghanistan could score only 139 in 34.4 overs. The Afghanistan cricket team found Lockie Ferguson’s (3/19 in 7 overs) pace too difficult to handle. They had no answers for Mitchell Santner’s (3/39 in 7.4 overs) deliveries.
Will Young (54), Tom Latham (68), and Glenn Phillips (71) ensured that their team put up a winning total of 288/6 in 50 overs.
While chasing the target, Afghanistan were down to 43 for 3 (by the 14th over). Skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi’s (8) performance was disappointing. Then, for the fourth wicket, the pair of Rahmat Shah (36) and Azmatullah Omarzai (27) took brief control of the game, putting on a 54-run stand.
However, after that, the Afghans barely had any answers as they lost wickets at regular intervals.
Earlier, Black Caps recovered well from a mini mid-innings slump to post a commendable total against Afghanistan. Young, Latham, and Phillips’ half-centuries ensured that their team set a good target.
For the fifth wicket, Phillips and Latham put on 144 invaluable runs. Put to bat first, the Kiwis lost opener Devon Conway (20) in the seventh over. Spinner Mujeeb Ur Rahman trapped him leg-before. However, the pair of opener Young and in-form batter Rachin Ravindra (32) took charge and put on a convincing 79-run stand for the second wicket.
New Zealanders had a brief collapse, losing Young and Daryl Mitchell (1) by the 22nd over to Omarzai and spinner Rashid Khan, respectively. The scoreboard read 110 for four.
However, New Zealand managed to recover quickly. Skipper Latham and Phillips put up another fine game that defined the tone for the rest of the match.
(With inputs from agencies)