New Zealand continue to impress in this World Cup as they continue to dominate, jumping to the top position in the points table with 8 points and a Net Run Rate of +1.923.
Most of the cricket experts, commentators, and fans did not list New Zealand as a team to qualify for the semi-finals as they were plagued with injuries. But the Blackcaps proved their naysayers wrong, as they have dealt with the best that they were given and have maximized their resources.
New Zealand lost the toss, and they were put to bat first. Fans expected Afghanistan to trouble the Blackcaps with the spin-friendly conditions and their world-class spinners.
Dropped catches definitely costed Afghanistan a few extra runs, as the New Zealand batsman were dropped four times. Despite the poor fielding, the spinners spun a web and troubled the batsman. New Zealand were struggling at one point, as they were 113-4. But the middle and lower orders of Afghanistan continued to fight back and set a respectable total of 288-6.
End of first innings: New Zealand: 288-6; Glenn Phillips 71 (80); Tom Latham 68 (74); Naveen ul Haq 8-48-0-2; Azmatullah Omarzai 7-56-0-2.
The Afghanistan batsmen were troubled by the ressilient bowling attack of the Blackcaps, as a single batsman could not score a half century. The spinners and pacers shared the wickets among them as they got Afghanistan all out for 139-10 in 34.4 overs.
End of second innings: Afghanistan 139-10; Rahmat Shah 36 (62); Azmatullah Omarzai 27 (32); Lockie Ferguson 7-19-1-3; Mitchell Santner 7.4-39-0-3.
