The latest season of the Cricket World Cup was nothing short of a roller coaster ride. Some new participants plating their feet on the World Cup stage, a few underdogs disquieting the heavyweights, we got to witness it all. New Zealand, the 2019 World Cup finalists was one of the best contenders to win the title. Afghanistan on the other hand, still new to the World Cup delivered some wonderful matches. In this light, let us discuss the New Zealand vs Afghanistan match, and without further ado let’s get right to it.
New Zealand vs Afghanistan: Analyzing The Squad and Lineup
Both New Zealand and Afghanistan took to the field with victory on their mind as they brought out their ace teams and best players in the coffers. The experienced New Zealand side with many heavy hitters on the lineup appeared strong and nightmarish for any team.
The young Afghanistan team on the other side though lacking experience, was riding in the waves of pure zeal and hunger for victory. The lineups for the New Zealand vs Afghanistan match can be seen in the chart below:
| New Zealand | Afghanistan |
| Devon Conway | R. Gurbaz |
| Will Young | Ibrahim Zadran |
| Rachin Ravindra | Rahmat Shah |
| Daryl Mitchell | H. Shahidi |
| Tom Latham | Azmatullah Omarzai |
| Glenn Phillips | Mohd. Nabi |
| Mark Chapman | Ikram Alikhil |
| Mitchell Santner | Rashid Khan |
| Matt Henry | Naveen Haq |
| Lockie Ferguson | F. Farooqi |
| Trent Boult | Mujeeb Rahman |
Final Scorecard For The New Zealand vs Afghanistan Matchup
Afghanistan won the toss and chose to field first, restricting New Zealand to a decent score of 288. While Afghanistan might have been happy with their performance and was looking forward to taking the match away, they were unaware that the New Zealand bowlers had other plans in mind.
New Zealand bowlers pacers and spinners alike feasted on Afghanistan batsman, cleaning the entire team at just 139 runs, ultimately leading their team to victory by 149 runs. The final scorecard for New Zealand vs Afghanistan can be seen as follows
New Zeland vs Afghanistan: NZ 1st Innings
| Batsman | Run Scored | Balls Faced |
| Conway | 20 | 18 |
| Young | 54 | 64 |
| Ravindra | 32 | 41 |
| Mitchell | 1 | 7 |
| Latham | 68 | 74 |
| Phillips | 71 | 80 |
| Chapman | 25 | 12 |
| Santner | 7 | 5 |
| Bowler | Wickets Taken | Overs |
| Mujeeb Rahman | 1 | 10 |
| F. Farooqi | 0 | 7 |
| Naveen Haq | 2 | 8 |
| Mohd. Nabi | 0 | 8 |
| Rashid Khan | 1 | 10 |
| A. Omarzai | 2 | 7 |
New Zealand vs Afghanistan: 2nd Innings
| Batsman | Runs Scored | Balls Faced |
| R. Gurbaz | 11 | 21 |
| Ibrahim Zadran | 14 | 15 |
| Rahmat Shah | 36 | 62 |
| H. Shahidi | 8 | 29 |
| Azmatullah Omarzai | 27 | 32 |
| Ikram Alikhil | 19 | 21 |
| Mohd. Nabi | 7 | 9 |
| Rashid Khan | 8 | 13 |
| Mujeeb Rahman | 4 | 3 |
| Naveen ul Haq | 0 | 1 |
| F. Farooqi | 0 | 2 |
| Bowler | Wickets Taken | Overs |
| Boult | 2 | 7 |
| Henry | 1 | 5 |
| Santner | 3 | 7.4 |
| Ferguson | 3 | 7 |
| Phillips | 0 | 3 |
| Ravindra | 1 | 5 |
New Zealand vs Afghanistan Final Result
| Team | Score | Result |
| New Zealand
Afghanistan |
288/6
139/10 |
New Zealand won by 149 runs |
New Zealand vs Afghanistan: Revisiting The Key Moments
Let us look at some of the defining moments of the match that kept the audience a thrilling experience throughout the match:
- Afghanistan impressed with its bowling in the first innings and helped restrict their rivals to a decent total.
- The New Zealand openers gave a solid foundation and paved the way for the middle order to boost things up.
- While New Zealand lost some wickets in quick succession, Latham and Phillips helped the team with a strong partnership.
- Later on a short and strong innings by Chapman surged the team to a decent total.
- Naveen Haq and Omarzai impressed with their bowling and took 2 wickets each.
- Later in the second innings, Afghanistan openers looked strong and swept some sensational shots but could not maintain their stand for long.
- The New Zealand bowlers spearheaded by Ferguson and Santer dismantled the Afghanistan batting lineup taking 3 wickets each punishing their rivals and uprooting the key batsman.
- New Zealand proved to be too strong for Afghanistan, dominating with the ball and their exceptional fielding to seal the deal and win the match.
New Zealand vs Afghanistan U19 World Up: Youngsters Gave a Thrilling Experience!
The New Zealand vs Afghanistan U19 World Cup was one of a kind in its league, giving the audience the edge-of-the-seat experience right till the last moment. It appeared that anyone could take the match till the final moments until the young stars from New Zealand were able to seal the deal, winning the match by just one wicket.
Earlier, the Afghanistan boys crumbled under the bowling attack of the New Zelanad youngsters, getting all out in just 91 runs. It appeared that New Zealand would clink victory easily, But the heavy bowling attack from Afghanistan broke the spine of New Zealand’s batting lineup. It appeared that New Zealand would lose the match, but the tailenders cemented their foot and brought victory home.
Wrapping It Up
Cricket is an uncertain game, and you never know when tides can turn in this wonderful sport. New Zealand vs Afghanistan for both the U19 and International World Cup, was a wonderful match to follow and would be remembered by the fans for a long time. It would be interesting to note how things turn out for the teams in the upcoming Twenty Twenty World Cup, so till then stay tuned.