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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
Chepauk Stadium, Chennai
12:30 pm UAE Time
Teams:
New Zealand (probable): 1 Devon Conway, 2 Will Young, 3 Rachin Ravindra, 4 Tom Latham (capt, wk), 5 Daryl Mitchell, 6 Glenn Phillips, 7 Mark Chapman, 8 Mitchell Santner, 9 Mark Henry, 10 Lockie Ferguson, 11 Trent Boult
Afghanistan (probable): 1 Rahmanullah Gurbaz, 2 Ibrahim Zadran, 3 Rahmat Shah, 4 Hashmatullah Shahidi (capt), 5 Azmatullah Omarzai, 6 Mohammad Nabi, 7 Ikram Alikhil (wk), 8 Rashid Khan, 9 Mujeeb Ur Rahman, 10 Naveen-ul-Haq, 11 Fazalhaq Farooqi
Head-to-head
Matches: 2
New Zealand wins: 2
Afghanistan wins: 0
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