Daily Times

Afghanistan’s bowlers exploited to the full a pitch assisting both pace and spin at the Providence Stadium on Friday as they skittled New Zealand for just 75 from 15.2 overs and bowled their team to a 84-run run victory in the T20 World Cup.

Afghanistan captain and spin bowler Rashid Khan took four for 17 in his team’s second decisive victory of the tournament; they defeated Uganda by 125 runs at the same venue on Tuesday and are on top of Group C.

After New Zealand captain Kane Williamson elected to field first, Afghanistan reached a respectable 159 for six from their 50 overs, with openers Rahmanullah Gurbaz (80) and Ibrahim Zadrau (44) putting on 103 for the first wicket from 14.3 overs.

Left-arm pace bowler Trent Boult took the new ball, with Lockie Ferguson opening from the other end, and conceded three boundaries in a row to Zadrau, two of them from streaky shots that flew down to fine leg and third man respectively. Zadrau was dropped on the square leg boundary by Finn Allen from a lofted hook that he appeared to lose in the lights with the batsman on 13. Gurbaz had already received a letoff when he dabbed the ball to third man, took off for a single and was out of his crease when he was sent back, but wicketkeeper Devon Conway was unable to catch the return.