T20 World Cup 2021: Match 40, New Zealand vs Afghanistan – Who Said What

Afghanistan and New Zealand locked horns with each other in their last league games of the T20 WC 2021. While New Zealand’s win made their entry clear cut into the semis, Afghanistan’s victory would have given a chance to their team as well as India with NRR to decide. However, New Zealand cut out all the mess to secure a straight victory by eight wickets.

Winning the toss at Abu Dhabi, Afghanistan walked up the field with willows first which only resulted in them putting a below-average score on the table. While the whole batting show was a dismal display from Afghanistan’s end, Najibullad Zadram rose in the crunch situation to play a stunning knock of 73 off 48 balls. Zadran failed to gain support from the other end and their team ended up posting just 124 runs target.

Trent Boult shines for New Zealand yet again

Trent Boult was seen at his usual best while picking three wickets and conceding at 4.20.  While the chase game of Kiwis began, the men in black were adamant about wrapping up the game quickly and remained fearless in their approach as they had a meager target in front. Kane Williamson’s 40* and Devon Conway’s 36 saw NZ getting over the line in 18.1 overs only. Rashid Khan and Mujeeb-Ur-Rahman picked one wicket each.

Winning skipper, Kane Williamson said:

It was a strong performance. They have got match-winners in all departments. It was nice to set the tone with the ball straight up, restrict them to a below-par score on a 150-155 surface. In second innings, we tried to suck things up and get as close as we could. We would have batted first today. We know we have another strong challenge coming up but really pleasing outing for the team. The fielding was outstanding. With the day games, it’s important to set the tone in the park and bring that energy. England are a very strong side, for us it’s important to keep learning and focus on the cricket that we want to play. We are looking forward to the occasion.

Losing skipper, Mohammad Nabi said:

It was our plan to bat first and put a decent total on the board. We didn’t start well, early wickets, we built partnerships but didn’t finish well. We were 30 runs short on this pitch. We were eyeing 140-160, that would have been a decent score. Our bowling is strong, but we didn’t get a good total. We tried our best and bowled really well in this game. We have a lot of experience playing in the UAE, we take a lot of positives from this tournament.

Player of the match Trent Boult said:

Nice to tick off the performance here this afternoon. Now we move forward for the business end of the tournament. Boys are feeling good. There is a big difference between the day games and the night games. We have been playing good cricket. Hopefully we can keep it going. It’s just about adapting (to the toss), executing well and chasing it down properly was what we talked about, glad that we got the job done.