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| New Zealand set Afghanistan a target of 289. Photo: AFP |
Afghanistan's fielders have given away runs. Despite losing 3 wickets quickly in the middle overs, Tom Latham and Glenn Phillips formed a great partnership. Then the final storm. In total New Zealand scored 288 runs for 6 wickets batting first in Chennai. In the last 6 overs, New Zealand scored 78 runs despite losing two steady batsmen, Latham and Phillips.
Afghanistan, energized by defeating England, won the fielding toss today, and the chance to return Will Young came in the second over. However, Rahmat Shah slipped the catch called by Fazalhaq Farooqui. Who knew that the fielding woes were only the beginning of Afghanistan! Afghanistan got off to a positive start by LBW to Devon Conway, however, with previous match hero Mujeeb Ur Rehman giving Afghanistan the breakthrough. Afghanistan then got another quick wicket opportunity, this time in the absence of Kane Williamson, the captain Hashmatullah Shahidi dropped Rachin Ravindra's catch at mid-on for three again.
The pair of Young and Ravindra returned to the team and then took New Zealand forward a lot. A 79-run partnership between the two more than made up for the loss of Conway. Then the name collapsed. This year's hero of Afghanistan is Azmatullah Omarzai. Ravindra and Young returned in one of his overs. Ravindra was bowled, Young turned into a superb catch by Ikram Alikhil who dived to the left. Daryl Mitchell's return to Rashid Khan's long hop in the next over put New Zealand under pressure, losing 3 wickets in 9 balls. From 1 for 109 to 4 for 110—New Zealand was looking bad. But Tom Latham and Glenn Phillips didn't let that happen. They did a great job of repairing the innings. Bad fielding by Afghans also helps. Latham survived Rashid's last two overs twice, Hashmatullah caught the Kiwi captain for 38 after Mujib for 36.
The pair of Latham and Phillips eventually put on 144 runs off 153 balls, both getting fifties. The two show how to build a pair in the middle overs. However, both started to pick up the pace towards the end and were stopped in one over by Naveen-ul-Haq. Latham was bowled with 68 runs off 74 balls, Phillips' 71 runs off 80 balls before being caught.
However, despite losing two steady batsmen at crucial times, New Zealand got a good score thanks to Mark Chapman's 25-run cameo from 12 balls. Chapman added 33 runs off 16 balls with Mitchell Santner.
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