NZ VS AFG - 16th Match, ICC Cricket World Cup 2023

Four out of four from NZ. They spring to the top of the table. Kiwis continue to fly high. They have been propelled by the wings provided to them by almost everyone in the unit. KW missed the game. Young grabbed his chance. Ravindra steadied the ship despite looking out of sorts. Phillips played like only he can. Latham tried to be the glue. Chapman provided the final flourish. Then the bowlers stepped up as a pack. Their well oiled unit is steam rolling a few sides. England, Netherlands, Bangladesh and now Afghanistan have been hunted down. Who will they prey upon next? Will Afghanistan come back from this debacle? They had the conditions which favoured them today but butter fingers didn't help them. Even the bowling was good in patches. The batting completely looked out of place. They have a win but one swallow doesn't make a summer. NZ face a sterner test when they meet India at Dharamsala in a few days and Afghanistan take on neighbours Pakistan on the 23rd. Both have ingredients to be classics! We will continue calling the shots for you...Our team of Abhinav Guha, Saurabh Shankar, Anurag Hegde, Kumar Abhisekh Das and Vinod is bidding you bye bye!

Tom Latham: A pleasing start. Another great performance. We were put under pressure some times. The bowlers managed to take wickets when it was needed. We had lost three wickets in a short span of time. We thought of regrouping. They bowled fantastically well. We managed to capitalize. Glenn played a fantastic knock. The first 10 overs were superb. Mitch Santner coming in and doing his job. Pleasing all-round performance. I guess on the back of some good performances, it is pleasing. We have India and then Australia. Hopefully, the momentum will continue.

Hashmatullah Shahidi: At this level, you have to take those catches. The fielding was poor. We were a bit down because of that. Last six overs, a lot of runs scored by the NZ team. Before the 40th over, we dropped a couple of catches. We couldn't stop the set batters. We tried but failed. The toss I can say, you can't judge 100 percent when it comes to the pitch. The pitch was slow. We bowled well but the fielding was a concern for us. It will hurt us. We have more games to come. We will talk where we can improve and come back stronger in the next game.

Biggest wins for New Zealand in World Cups (by runs)
181 vs East Africa, Birmingham 1975
149 vs AFG, Chennai 2023*
148 vs KEN, Gros Islet 2007
143 vs WI, Wellington 2015

Lowest totals for Afghanistan in World Cups
125 vs SA, Cardiff, 2019
139 vs NZ, Chennai, 2023*
142 vs AUS, Perth, 2015
152 vs SL, Cardiff, 2019

Glenn Phillips | Player of the Match: The Afghanistan spinners are incredibly talented and strong. Was really pleasing to see me and Tom go well in the middle after losing a few early. It was really good the way we batted here, especially on a dusty track here. Was great how we were able to take it down till the end and get the runs. We thought we’d be able to get 60 off the last 6 if we both were out there. The way Chapman and Santner finished it off was amazing. Thought that around 250 would’ve been par. We’re in an environment where we keep working for each other and play as a team. It’s about understanding what you can do for your mate and him understanding what he can do for you. We understand each other’s strengths and weaknesses really well.

20:57 Local Time, 15:27 GMT, 20:57 IST: NZ win by 149 runs. That sums up the headlines. Do I need detail more of what happened today? NZ started steady. Lost Conway to an error of judgement. A double strike from Azmatullah. Afghanistan had a sniff. But that was it. Latham and Phillips rested back the momentum with valuable knocks. Chapman provided some late order runs. 289 seemed a little too much. Afghanistan top-order failed. The middle-order tried. The lower order was blown away. Boult, Henry, Ferguson provided the explosives. Santner and Ravindra burnt it on a slow flame. Afghanistan weren't roasted (refer Chennai heat and the too hot to handle bowling attack) today but certainly a huge dent to their confidence after their strong showing against England. It was meant to be a competition. But turned out that Afghanistan didn't put their best foot forward today. This WC hasn't seen a classic close game so far. Our wait continues. Your wait for the captain comments shouldn't take too long.

Santner to Fazalhaq Farooqi, out Caught by Mitchell!! If you batted your eyelids far too many times then let me put it up for you, NZ win by 149 runs. That was a tossed up delivery, turned away and took the edge as the batter tried to drive it away on the off-side. Was a thick edge and the man at slip did the rest. Ikram Alikhil has been stranded at the other end. It is all over. Afghanistan were supposed to fight but this has been an antithesis of what was supposed to be. Fazalhaq Farooqi c Mitchell b Santner 0(2)

Santner to Fazalhaq Farooqi, THATS OUT!! Caught!!

Santner to Fazalhaq Farooqi, no run, stabs the ball down into the off-side with soft hands

Fazalhaq Farooqi, right handed bat, comes to the crease

Santner to Naveen-ul-Haq, out Caught by Chapman!! From out of nowhere, an early finish is on the cards. That was a tossed up delivery, Naveen-ul-Haq looked to reverse paddle it. Got a massive top-edge. The ball scooped up and was an easy take for the man at short third man. Ninth one down. Santner has his second. Might well be a huge win for NZ. That was lobbed up from Santner and Naveen-ul-Haq for some reasons wanted to reverse paddle his first ball. Choices, my friend choices determine a lot of things. Naveen-ul-Haq c Chapman b Santner 0(1)

Santner to Naveen-ul-Haq, THATS OUT!! Caught!!

Santner to Ikram Alikhil, 1 run, fetches the ball from outside off and sweeps it on to the on-side for a single

Naveen-ul-Haq, right handed bat, comes to the crease

Ferguson to Mujeeb, out Caught by Will Young!! They are going down like a lead balloon. Catastrophic. The short ball does it. 8th one down for the chasing side. The batter backed away, the pull was almost an instinctive shot as the ball was aimed for his head. The top-edge went high and was taken at fine leg. Good take considering it was close to the ropes. Third strike for Ferguson. Mujeeb c Will Young b Ferguson 4(3) [4s-1]

Ferguson to Mujeeb, THATS OUT!! Caught!!

Ferguson to Mujeeb, no run, backs away and slaps the ball straight to the man at cover

Ferguson to Mujeeb, FOUR, backs away and thwacks the pull away. The ball evades the man at deep mid. That's some start for Mujeeb

Mujeeb Ur Rahman, right handed bat, comes to the crease