ICC World Cup 2023: New Zealand well-equipped to negate Afghan threat

Front-runners along with India in the tournament, New Zealand have looked a formidable side but will be wary of the doughty Afghans who pulled off a stunning heist against England the other night.

With their batting coming good, Afghanistan’s spinners Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Mohammad Nabi and the redoubtable Rashid Khan put the English batting in a tailspin from which the defending champions could not escape.

In hindsight, the defending champions made a blunder of choosing to field first on a good batting track, then compounded the mistake with loose batting, believing Afghanistan would be tamed easily.

The Kiwis will have to avoid such pitfalls, especially the second one, on a Chennai pitch which generally helps slow bowlers.

Man for man, New Zealand are streets ahead of Afghanistan. Their batting – down the order – has been brilliant. The pace bowling, with classy Trent Boult hitting fine form, has looked incisive.

Mitchell Santner, Rachin Ravindra and part-timer Glenn Phillips add vital spin quotient which has worked to the team’s considerable advantage on Indian pitches.

Santner, the left-arm spinner, has been exceptional so far, bringing into use his vast experience of Indian conditions. Attacking lower order batting and brilliant fielding make him a multi-dimensional asset for his team.

But there is not a single player in the New Zealand side who has looked in sub-par form.

All these make no case, however, that victory will come on a platter. Afghanistan are a minnow team no doubt, but they are resilient and ambitions. No pushovers, as England realized to their chagrin.

And New Zealand's biggest threat could be Mujeeb, a tricky bowler to play in the first power-play because of his control over line and length. He was in top form against England picking up early wickets.

But New Zealand are a highly efficient team built to avoid big setbacks in early rounds of major tournaments.

Wednesday's match

New Zealand vs Afghanistan

Afghanistan wins: 0