New Zealand extended their winning streak in the ongoing World Cup to four matches as they registered a comprehensive 149-run win over Afghanistan at MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai. It was another dominant show from New Zealand as they didn’t miss the services of Kane Williamson much and moved to the top of points table with four wins in a row.
The Kiwis produced a collective effort with the ball and bundled out Afghanistan for just 139 while defending a 289-run target in Chennai. Lockie Ferguson and Mitchell Santner were the standout performers with the ball for New Zealand as they claimed three wickets each.
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Rahmat Shah top-scored for Afghanistan but his 36 runs occupied 62 balls before his team were dismissed for just 139 in 34.4 overs.
Afghanistan were 97/3 at one stage and were looking solid but Azmatullah Omarzai (27) triggered a collapse and they just failed to recover from it and kept losing wickets to get bundle out in no time.
Earlier, Glenn Phillips, Tom Latham and Will Young scored half centuries as New Zealand were let off by some sloppy Afghanistan fielding to score 288-6 in their World Cup match in Chennai.
Phillips hit 71 off 80 balls, Latham 68 off 74 and opener Young 54 off 64 balls to lift New Zealand from a precarious 110-4 after they were sent in to bat on a slow pitch.
Mark Chapman fired a rapid 25 off 12 balls with two fours and a six as New Zealand scored 62 runs in the last five overs.
Afghanistan dropped as many as five catches.
Put into bat first, the Kiwis lost opener Devon Conway (20) in the seventh over, with spinner Mujeeb Ur Rahman trapping him leg-before.
However, the pair of opener Young and in-form batter Rachin Ravindra (32) took charge and put on a convincing 79-run stand for the second wicket.
A chance to stump Ravindra was missed, whereas spinner Mohammad Nabi was put under pressure by the Black Caps batters, as he was attacked quite regularly.
Eventually, it was pacer Azmatullah Omarzai who got the partnership broken in the 21st over, cleaning up Ravindra off a straight delivery, as the batter attempted to swing it towards mid-wicket, but missed it completely in the process.
It was at this moment the New Zealanders had a brief collapse, losing Young and Daryl Mitchell (1) by the 22nd over to Omarzai and spinner Rashid Khan, respectively, as the score read 110 for four.
Phillips and Latham put on 144 invaluable runs for the fifth wicket which put the New Zealand innings back on the track.
(With Agency Inputs)
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