Daily Times

Afghanistan and New Zealand will lock horns at the MA Chidambaram Stadium as both teams hope to get forward in the ICC ODI World Cup 2023. Entering this fixture, both teams have registered convincing.

Despite losing Kane Williamson with a thumb injury, New Zealand is a favourite to win this fixture. The Blackcaps have dominated every opponent in the tournament so far with top performances.

Afghanistan, after beating the defending champions, is getting in good shape. With a potent spin attack, they can make any batting side falter.

Rashid and Majeeb are forced to reckon once the ball starts to grip and turn, especially under lights.

Afghanistan’s only worry is their middle-order batting, which they must fix quickly as they go deep in the tournament.New Zealand has been flawless; only the injury of Williamson is a bit concerning. But he will be available in the later part of the World Cup.

Staner and Pace Attack are in good rhythm. The batters are in good form. If they pass the spin test of Afghanistan, they will surely make it to the Top four, or another final awaits them. New Zealand and Afghanistan are set to clash with each other in their next encounter of ICC World Cup 2023. NZ vs AFG clash takes place on Wednesday, October 18 at MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.

New Zealand have played 3 matches in ICC World Cup 2023 so far and won all of them. They defeated England, Netherlands, and Bangladesh. Afghanistan has played 3 matches, winning 1 and losing 2. They lost to Bangladesh and India but defeated England.New Zealand and Afghanistan have faced each other three times in international cricket, all of them during World Cups. New Zealand defeated Afghanistan in both ODI games and one T20I match. Kane Williamson is the skipper of New Zealand in ICC World Cup 2023. However, since he got injured in the last match, Tom Latham will lead the team in the upcoming games. Devon Conway is the leading run-getter for the team with 229 runs in 3 games. Rachin Ravindra is next with 183 runs. In bowling, Mitchell Santner and Matt Henry both have 8 wickets from 3 games each.

Hashmatullah Shahidi is the captain of Afghanistan in ICC World Cup 2023. After 3 matches, Rahmanullah Gurbaz is the leading run-getter for the team with 148 runs in 3 matches. Hashmatullah Shahidi and Azmatullah Omarzai follow him with 112 and 103 runs respectively.

In the bowling department, Rashid Khan has hunted the most 5 scalps for the team across three matches. Mujeeb Ur Rahman accounts for 2 wickets.

The Afghanistan cricket team brought the much-needed spice to the 2023 ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup with a shock win against the defending champions, England.

Hence, it is quite clear that every team will be wary of the Afghans now, including the highflying New Zealand. The two teams will meet at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Wednesday.

The Blackcaps always turn up in ICC events and this edition has not been an exception in that regard. They have won all three matches they have played so far, beating England, Netherlands and Bangladesh respectively. Now, they will try to make it four out of four by beating Afghanistan. Afghanistan’s story in this tournament is quite surreal. They started their journey with a big defeat against Bangladesh and then were handed a thrashing by India. At this point, it seemed they could go on to lose every match, but they proved everyone wrong with a 69-run win against England. New Zealand missed out on the title in a heartbreaking manner back in 2019, but so far, it seems that they have got all bases covered to be a prime contender once again. In their first match, they avenged the final defeat by thrashing England in a 9-wicket win.

The Blackcaps faced Netherlands in their second match, where they clinched another big margin win, of 99 runs. In their third match against Bangladesh, Kane Williamson’s team got an eight-wicket win.

Afghanistan had a poor start to their journey as while many expected them to beat Bangladesh, they ended up losing by 6 wickets. A defeat against India was always on the cards, but the manner in which they lost (by 8 wickets) was not too promising for the Afghan fans. But out of nowhere, Hashmatullah Shahidi’s boys made a fabulous comeback in the last match. They shocked the defending champions England by handing them a 69-run defeat. The head-to-head records between these two teams are totally inclined in favour of New Zealand. They have met twice in ODI cricket, where the Blackcaps have won both games. The last meeting was at the Cooper Associates County Ground in Taunton on 8th June 2019. In that match, Afghanistan were bowled out for only 172 runs before New Zealand chased it down in 32.1 overs, thanks to a 79-run knock from Kane Williamson. Devon Conway (New Zealand): Although Williamson returned to the field against Bangladesh after a long absence, he will once again be unavailable with a finger fracture. In such a situation, New Zealand will have to rely on Devon Conway to score the bulk of the runs, and the left-handed opening batter has done it brilliantly so far.

Conway is currently leading the run-scoring charts for the Blackcaps, having scored 229 runs at an average of 114.50 and a strike rate of over 100. The South Africa-born player scored 152 not out in the opening game against England, before scoring 32 runs against Netherlands. The opening batter was seen in rhythm against Bangladesh as well, scoring 45 runs. It is for Conway’s foundations that New Zealand’s middle-order batters like Daryl Mitchell and Glenn Phillips are able to play their usual aggressive game.

Rashid Khan (Afghanistan): Rashid Khan will be the trump card for Afghanistan for two reasons. Firstly, he has been Afghanistan’s best bowler so far, having taken five wickets in three games, at an average of under 28 and an economy rate of just over 5 runs per over.