Afghanistan defeated New Zealand for the first time: Gurbaz scored 80 runs, Farooqi took a wicket on the first ball, then Rashid’s magic… Match Analysis

New Zealand batting. First ball of the innings and stumps on the ground. Afghan pacer Fazal Haq Farooqui had triggered another big upset of the T20 World Cup 2024 by taking the wicket of New Zealand batsman Finn Allen.

This match was played on Saturday at Providence Stadium in Guyana, West Indies. Farooqi did not give the Kiwi batsmen a chance to recover after the first over. He made victory difficult for New Zealand by taking 3 wickets in the powerplay itself.

Before the facts and analysis of the match, here is the picture of that ball…

Farooqi bowled Finn Allen on the first ball of the match.

New Zealand won the toss and chose to field. Afghanistan openers Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran made a partnership of 100 runs to take the score to 159.

Now it was the turn of the bowlers. Fazal Haq Farooqi took 4 wickets in the power play and then Rashid Khan took 4 wickets in the middle overs to ensure victory. New Zealand was all out for 75 runs.

Afghanistan has defeated New Zealand for the first time in international cricket. With this second consecutive win in this World Cup, Afghanistan is at the top of Group C. Analysis of the match…

Hero of victory
1. Rahmanullah Gurbaz
Rahmanullah Gurbaz played an innings of 80 runs in 56 balls. Apart from giving a great start to the team, he also made a partnership of 103 runs with Ibrahim Zadran.

2. Fazal Haq Farooqui-Powerplay
Fazal Haq Farooqi got the wicket of Finn Allen on the very first ball of the innings. In his spell, he took one wicket in every over. Farooqi took 4 wickets. Finn Allen, Devon Conway, Daryl Mitchell and Matt Henry. Out of these, 3 wickets were taken in the powerplay.

3. Rashid Khan-Middle Over Magic
After Farooqi, Rashid Khan showed the magic of spin in the middle overs. Rashid took the wicket of New Zealand captain Kane Williamson immediately after the power play. Rashid destroyed New Zealand’s middle order by taking the wickets of Michael Bracewell and Mark Chapman in the 9th over. Lockie Ferguson became his fourth victim in the 13th over.

The Turning Point
1. Gurbaj-Zadran partnership- The 103-run partnership between Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran strengthened Afghanistan. The players who came later got the freedom to play freely in the death overs. The partnership was strong, so Azmatullah Omarzai got a chance to come at number three. He played an innings of 22 runs in 13 balls. He scored runs at a strike rate of 169.

2. Kane Williamson’s wicket- New Zealand was in trouble, but their middle order was capable of chasing a target of 160. Especially captain Kane Williamson who plays spin better than other batsmen. Rashid sent Williamson back to the pavilion on the very first ball after the power play ended. Williamson was able to score only 9 runs. After this wicket, the New Zealand team could not make a comeback in the match.

Reasons for New Zealand’s defeat
1. Bad fielding- New Zealand’s poor fielding was one of the biggest reasons for the team’s defeat. The team gave Ibrahim Zadran 3 lives, which included 2 dropped catches and a runout chance. Due to the team’s poor fielding, wickets were not taken in the initial overs and Afghanistan scored a big total.

2. Luck favours Gurbaj- Afghanistan batsman Rahmanullah Gurbaz was lucky. In the fourth over, Gurbaz missed Santner’s ball and the ball hit the stumps. Despite this, Gurbaz was not declared out because the bails had not fallen. In the 11th over, Glenn Phillips took his catch and went out of the boundary.

Fighter of the Match
Matt Henry was the fighter of the match. Henry created chances of taking wickets, but did not succeed due to poor fielding. After 14 overs, Matt Henry sent both Ibrahim Zadran and Azmatullah Omarzai to the pavilion. But by then both these batsmen had already caused damage to New Zealand.

playing eleven
New Zealand: Finn Allen, Devon Conway (wicketkeeper), Kane Williamson (captain), Daryl Mitchell, Glenn Phillips, Mark Chapman, Michael Bracewell, Mitchell Santner, Matt Henry, Trent Boult and Lockie Ferguson.

Afghanistan: Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wicketkeeper), Ibrahim Zadran, Najibullah Zadran, Mohammad Nabi, Gulbadin Naib, Azmatullah Omarzai, Rashid Khan (captain), Karim Janat, Noor Ahmed, Naveen-ul-Haq and Fazalhaq Farooqi.