New Zealand have demolished Afghanistan by a whooping margin of 149 runs as the two sides met on Wednesday for a rather one sided encounter in MA Chidambaram Stadium of Chennai for 16th match of ICC Men’s ODI World Cup 2023.
After winning the toss, Afghanistan decided to bowl first. Glenn Phillips was the highest run scorer for the Kiwis as the middle order batter scored 71 runs in 80 balls. Skipper Tom Latham (68 of 74 balls) and Will Young (54 of 64 deliveries) had also chipped in with handy contributions. Eventually Mark Chapman’s quick fire cameo of 25 in 12 balls had helped them to reach 288 in their allotted 50 overs with 6 wickets down. For Afghans, Naveen- ul- Haq and Azmatullah had picked up two wickets each and Rashid Khan and Mujeeb Ur Rahman had got a wicket each.
In reply, Afghans were bundled out for mere 139 runs in just 34.4 overs. Only Rahmat Shah (36 of 62 balls) and Azmatullah (27 of 32 balls) had put up some resistance against the mighty Kiwi bowling attack as Kiwi pacer Lockie Ferguson and left arm orthodox spinner Mitch Santner had picked up 3 wickets each. Trent Boult had got 2 wickets. Matt Henry and Rachin Ravindra got a wicket each.
Glenn Philips was chosen as the Player of the Match. In the post- match presentations, he said, “The Afghanistan spinners are incredibly talented and strong. Was really pleasing to see me and Tom go well in the middle after losing a few early. It was really good the way we batted here, especially on a dusty track here. Was great how we were able to take it down till the end and get the runs. We thought we’d be able to get 60 off the last 6 if we both were out there. The way Chapman and Santner finished it off was amazing.”
This win had taken them to the top of the points table of ODI CWC ‘23 as they registered their 4th consecutive victory and remained undefeated so far.
