With several surprises, this edition of the T20 World Cup has been the most thrilling in the history of World Cups. Teams like Afghanistan, the United States, and Scotland have taken us all by surprise. One of the first major surprises was the exit of Pakistan from Group A as the USA advanced to the Super-8. On the other hand, the defending champions, England, had yet to fancy their chances for the Super-8. Scotland is in a better position to qualify further.
However, the most thrilling contest anticipated to be in Group C seemed quite one-sided, as the Kiwis failed to impress after facing two losses early on at the hands of both the West Indies and Afghanistan.
The first encounter between Afghanistan and New Zealand saw a clear domination at the hands of the Afghans. In the batting front openers, put on a stunning 100-run stand and put on a total of 160 in front of the NZ’s batters. The frontline pacer Fazalhaq Farooqi and skipper Rashid Khan put on a resisting effort in front of the Kiwi batters and won the match by a huge 84 runs.
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New Zealand put all hopes on their next fixture against the West Indies, winning the toss. Kane Williamson put them to bat first, and the 3-quicks excelled as they broke the back of the Windies batting order. Resisting them to 30/5, the co-hosts were in deep trouble at Barbados before Sherfane Rutherford and their lower order, comprising of Hosein, Russell, and Shepherd, took the West Indies to a decent total of 149 in their 20 overs.
However, the Kiwis once again failed on the batting front; Devon Conway continued his lack of form and got out early. Their World Cup star Ravindra and skipper Williamson also got out very early without troubling the scorers.
Mitchell and Finn Allen fell next to the unstoppable Alzarri Joseph, and the West Indies were at the top of their game. After Neesham fell, Glenn Phillips, New Zealand’s only frontline performer from the last T20 World Cup, took his chances on the West Indies bowling attack. Lastly, despite Mitchell Santner’s late heroics in the final over New Zealand, they fell well short by 13 runs to end their race for the Super-8s.
Lately, on Thursday, Afghanistan, with their third win over PNG, qualified for the Super-8, thus ending all hopes for the Blackcaps. This would remain a nightmare of a tournament for New Zealand, as after several years, they have failed to advance into the playoffs of an ICC World Cup (USA 2024).