Watch: Azmatullah Omarzai uproots Rachin Ravindra's middle stump with a beauty - Video Highlights of the Day

New Zealand and Afghanistan are locking horns in Match 16 of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 on Wednesday, October 18 at MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai. Afghanistan captain Hashmatullah Shahidi won the toss and invited New Zealand to bat first. The decision was almost vindicated by Fazalhaq Farooqi who managed to find the outside edge of Will Young in the second over itself, however, the catch was dropped by Rahmat Shah at first slip.

Having got a life early on, Young went on to score a brilliant fifty and took New Zealand to 109/1 after 20 overs. Azmatullah Omarzai brought his team back into the game as he struck twice in the 21^st over. The right-arm seamer first dismantled the stumps of Rachin Ravindra (32 off 41) on the second ball.

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The southpaw was looking to smack Omarzai towards deep mid-wicket but ended up missing the ball completely and got his middle stump uprooted. The Afghan seamer further found the inside edge of Young’s bat which went straight to Ikram Alikhil who took a spectacular catch diving to his left. 

Watch both dismissals here:

Courtesy of his double-wicket over, New Zealand were reduced to 110/3 after 21 overs. Wrist spinner Rashid Khan further piled on the misery on the Kiwis as he dismissed Daryl Mitchell in the very next over who hit one straight to Ibrahim Zadran at short mid-wicket. As a result, New Zealand were in all sorts of trouble at 110/4 after 21.4 overs.

Tom Latham and Glenn Phillips bailed their team out of trouble

A brilliant 144-run stand between captain Tom Latham and Glenn Phillips took their team’s score past 250. Phillips was finally dismissed by Naveen-ul-Haq after scoring a brilliant 71 off 80 balls with the help of four fours and four sixes in his innings. On the other hand, Latham went on to score 68 off 74 smashing three fours and two sixes in his innings.

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A quickfire cameo of 25* off 12 balls from Mark Chapman helped New Zealand finish on 288/6 at the end of their 50 overs. Naveen-ul-Haq (2/48 in eight overs) and Azmatullah Omarzai (2/56, 7 overs) picked up two wickets each for Afghanistan.

Checkout more highlights from NZ vs AFG Match 16 of ODI World Cup 2023