NZ vs AFG: 75 ALL OUT; Rashid Khan, Fazalhaq Farooqi's twin four-fers help Afghanistan crush New Zealand with big 84-run win

Rashid Khan-led Afghanistan cricket team defeated Kane Williamson's New Zealand by a massive margin of 84 runs in match 14 of the ongoing edition of the T20 World Cup 2024 which was being played at the Providence Stadium in Guyana, on June 8 (Saturday). This was a big win for the Afghan side and they have topped the Group C points table with four points and an astonishing net run rate of +5.225, which will be extremely difficult to beat. Afghanistan batting first scored 159/6 and later bowled out the Black Caps on the paltry score of 75 runs to pick up a famous win.

Rahmanulla Gurbaz's game-changing knock

On a pitch where New Zealand got all out for 75 runs, Rahmanullah Gurbaz single-handedly smashed a world-class knock of 80 runs off just 56 balls. It was his knock that allowed his team to post 159/6 cause Ibrahim Zadaran scored a 41-ball 44, Azmatullah played a good cameo of 13-ball 22 but no other batter could even get past the 6-run mark. Gurbaz had more runs than the complete New Zealand team and he was awarded with the Player of the Match award.

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Rashid Khan, Fazalhaq Farooqi's twin four-fers crush Kiwis

Fazalhaq Farooqi dismissed Finn Allen on the very first ball of the New Zealand innings giving them a big blow right from the start. However, this was just the beginning Farooqi drew the first blood and later also dismissed Conway to send both NZ openers back. He also dismissed Daryl Mitchell and gave NZ three big blows inside the first five overs. NZ batters had no answer to the Afghan bowling attack.

Kane Williamson was expected to revive the Kiwi innings but he lost his wicket to his Gujarat Titans teammate Rashid Khan. NZ kept on losing wickets at regular intervals and could not build even one good partnership as a result, Afghanistan's grip on the match got tighter and they bowled them out for just 75 runs. Both Rashid Khan and Fazalhaq Farooqi grabbed four-wicket each and Nabi picked two.

Afghanistan top the Group C

Afghanistan now have four points with two consecutive wins. They are at top of the Group C and have a stunning net run rate of +5.225. This will be extremely hard to overcome by other teams in the group and the loss today will affect New Zealand a lot in their matches ahead.

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