Afghanistan 159 for 6 (Gurbaz 80, Ibrahim 44, Bolt 2-22, Henry 2-37) New Zealand 75th place (Phillips 18th, Rashid 4th 17th, Faruqi 4th 17th) 84 points
Afghanistan boosted their Super Eight chances with another crushing win, this time beating New Zealand by 84 points in Providence. After defeating Uganda by 125 points in the opening match, they are currently top of Group C with a net scoring percentage of 5.225.
Afghanistan was in the second innings of the first half. They scored 55 for no runs in the first 10 overs and 104 for 6 in the last 10 overs, with Gurbaz contributing 80 runs off 56 balls. New Zealand, who decided not to play a warm-up match, looked rusty as their fielders missed catches and run-out opportunities.
With the pitch supporting both seamers and spinners, chasing 160 will not be easy. But few expected New Zealand to collapse in the way it did.
Afghanistan’s rocky start
Trent Boult found some swing in the opening but Gurbaz and Ibrahim showed their intent by picking up three fours from Henry at the other end.
Both batters were also lucky. Gurbaz got his second life when he skipped down the track to Santner and missed the ball. The ball continued to brush the leg stump but the bails did not budge. In the next over, Finn Allen dropped Ibrahim off Henry at the deep square leg boundary.
That wasn’t all. Gurbaz received another reprieve after being implicated in a miscommunication with Ibrahim. Gurbaz, who took off for his single, had to retrace his steps and would have been out had Conway not fumbled the throw.
Two balls later, New Zealand finally looked like they had achieved success when Santner pinged Ibrahim’s pad and umpire Kumar Dharmasena ruled it lbw. However, the batsman overturned the decision after review as the ball headed towards the leg. Immediately after that, Ibrahim hit Santner for an inside-out four, and Afghanistan ended the power play with a score of 44 and no runs.
Bracewell, Ferguson put the brakes on
New Zealand went against the conventional wisdom of not bowling off-spinners when their two right-handed batsmen were in trouble, and Michael Bracewell rewarded that faith by giving away just six runs in his first two overs.
Lockie Ferguson was much more frugal, scoring 5 in his first two games. He could have played a slower full toss to Ibrahim but a jumping Kane Williamson missed a fine one-handed shot on mid-off. This meant that only 55 remained on the board after 10 overs while Afghanistan remained unscathed.
acceleration
Afghanistan did not hit a single six in their first 10 overs, but hit five in the next three overs, including three from Bracewell, as Gurbaz and Bracewell stepped on the accelerator. The two achieved a comeback victory by surpassing 100 in the 14th over. New Zealand finally got a breakthrough when Ibrahim slotted Henry’s short ball into his stumps after being hit on the grill by the previous delivery.
Azmatullah Omarzai, promoted to number three, did his part with 13 for 22, including a six off three balls from Henry. Mohammad Nabi fell for a first ball duck but Gurbaz continued to find boundaries at regular intervals. But Boult’s three-wicket three-run final over kept Afghanistan at 159 runs.
Farooqi rocked New Zealand early.
Farooqi gave Afghanistan a dream start with the ball. With the first delivery of the innings, he rooted out Finn Allen’s leg stump as the ball moved late on. In the seamer’s next over, Conway pushed one that appeared to come out slowly on the surface and was caught at extra cover.
The decision to give Farooqi the third over in the powerplay brought further rewards. This time he bowled around the wicket to Daryl Mitchell, who straightened and caught a length delivery that caught the outside edge. Gurbaz took the regulation catch to complete his dismissal and leave New Zealand up 28-3.
It could have been worse for New Zealand. Meanwhile, Naveen-ul-Haq tapped Kane Williamson’s front pad after the batsman moved to bowl a delivery. Afghanistan were sent upstairs for a lbw review, but an umpire’s call saved the New Zealand captain.
Rashid joins the party
Afghanistan didn’t have to wait too long for Williamson’s wicket. Rashid came on after the power play and when Williamson was forced to first slip, he struck straight away. But Rashid was just warming up. In the next over, he dismissed Mark Chapman and Bracewell off successive deliveries to leave New Zealand for 6 on 43. Chapman went for a pull and was bowled. Bracewell was late to get his bat down and pounded.
Phillips was New Zealand’s last hope. He hit a few boundaries, but was soon caught when he tried to deal with the butterflies. This ended New Zealand’s hopes of revival.
Hemant Brar is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo.
