MELBOURNE
High flying New Zealand will face Afghanistan today (Wednesday) in their second fixture of the Twenty20 World Cup here at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG).
The Kiwis will eye a second straight win at the tournament as they had stunned hosts Australia earlier by 89 runs, while the Afghans are almost at the verge of elimination as they had succumbed to defeat at the hands of mighty England.
New Zealand had stunned everyone in their opening match on October 22, when they bamboozled the Ausies in all three departments. Finn Allen’s no-holds-barred assault, Devon Conway’s more measured 92 not out, James Neesham’s late blows, Mitchell Santner’s powerplay smarts, and timely strikes from the seamers formed the ingredients of a dominant opening victory for New Zealand on Saturday.
Conway, who is arguably the best player of spin in the New Zealand line-up, will have a major role to play against Rashid Khan and co. again, having done so in the 2021 T20 World Cup in the UAE. New Zealand will be buoyed further by the potential return of allrounder Daryl Mitchell, who trained with the squad in the last couple of days as he works his way back from a finger fracture.
Afghanistan have also made good progress in T20 cricket – they now have Fazalhaq Farooqi and Naveen-ul-Haq to back up their spin trio of Rashid, Mujeeb Ur Rahman and Mohammad Nabi. All three spinners will dip into their Big Bash League (BBL) experiences, which captain Nabi alluded to during the pre-match press conference.
Afghanistan’s batting and catching, however, doesn’t appear as healthy. Against England in Perth, they subsided to 112 all out from 82 for 3 and then dropped Alex Hales twice during their defence. They can’t afford such slip-ups against a razor-sharp New Zealand side as one more defeat could push them closer to elimination.
