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.
What have they done so far?
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.
Head to Head Record
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.
Key Players
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.
Devon Conway is currently New Zealand’s leading run-scorer
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.
The leg-spinner had a bad day against Bangladesh but picked up 2 wickets against India and 3 against England. But in addition to his numbers, we must also keep in mind that the match will be played in Chennai, where the pitch usually has a lot to offer to the spinners.
Predicted XIs
New Zealand: Devon Conway, Rachin Ravindra, Will Young, Daryl Mitchell, Tom Latham © (wk), Glenn Phillips, Mark Chapman, Mitchell Santner, Matt Henry, Ish Sodhi/Lockie Ferguson, Trent Boult.
Afghanistan: Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Ibrahim Zadran, Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi ©, Mohammad Nabi, Ikram Alikhil (wk), Azmatullah Omarzai, Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Naveen-ul-Haq, Fazalhaq Farooqi.
Prediction
Afghanistan will be high on confidence after defeating England and will know that the pitch in Chennai will suit them more than the Kiwis. But considering their superb form, New Zealand will still start the game as favorites for the win.