Sloppy Afghanistan bewail dropped chances against New Zealand in Chennai

New Zealand stretched their winning streak to four games in the ODI World Cup 2023, thrashing Afghanistan by 149 runs in Chepauk on Wednesday, October 18.

The Kiwis posted 288/6 against the Afghanistan side, who entered the contest on the back of some confidence after beating defending champions England in their previous tie. The fielding effort, however, was quite sloppy from Hashmatullah Shahidi's men as they dropped as many as five catches and also missed one stumping opportunity. Afghanistan head coach Jonathan Trott expressed his disappointment after the lacklustre fielding performance from his side and reckoned that things could have ended differently had the chances been taken.

"Well, we dropped a catch in the second over and we dropped a few catches, really. We dropped [Rachin] Ravindra on nought, we dropped [Will] Young on nought. So that sort of gives a little bit of momentum to the opposition. I think if we had taken those and with the wicket of [Devon] Conway, we would have been in a much better position as well. Not only like they were, I think they were about 116 [110] for four at one stage. So, we would have been in an even better position had we held on to those catches. But it wasn't to be and unfortunately, we have to go home regretting those tonight," Trott said during the post-match press conference.

Very disappointed because in this level you have to take those kinds of catches: Hashmatullah Shahidi

Afghanistan skipper Hashmatullah also lamented the dropped chances and felt that they hampered his team's chances of winning against the Black Caps.

"Very disappointed because in this level you have to take those kinds of catches. End of the day, the [dropped] catches hurt us. The team was doing good, but the fielding, because of that we fell a little bit down," Shahidi told Star Sports at the post-match presentation.

The 'Blue Tigers' will be facing Pakistan in their upcoming World Cup encounter on Monday, October 23 in Chennai. Trott and Shahidi would hope to see a drastic improvement in the fielding standards of Afghanistan in that crucial game.

Also Check: ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 Points Table