Who: New Zealand vs Afghanistan
What: ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 Group C Match
When: Friday, June 7, 7:30 pm local time (11:30 pm GMT)
Where: Providence Stadium, Georgetown, Guyana
How to follow: Al Jazeera will have live text coverage of the match from 4:30pm (8:30pm GMT).
New Zealand finally kicked off their T20 World Cup campaign in Friday night’s clash in Guyana as they faced a skilled Afghanistan side in one of the most challenging games in Group C.
Afghanistan kicked off the tournament with a resounding 125-run victory over Uganda at the same venue on Tuesday.
A win over the Kiwis would put them in pole position to qualify for the Super 8 stage of a group that also includes the West Indies, who co-host this edition with the USA, and Papua New Guinea.
New Zealand captain Kane Williamson knows the challenge Afghanistan can throw at them, especially their bowling unit, led by world-renowned leg spinner Rashid Khan.
“They have a very skilled team, one of the best bowling attacks in the competition,” Williamson told reporters. “And we saw that in franchise competitions: the involvement, the number of Afghan players. They’re getting better and better.”
Six months ago, at the 2023 Cricket World Cup in India, Afghanistan finished sixth in the 10-team competition, above defending champions England. Their fearless brand of cricket makes Afghanistan one of the dark horses of the T20 tournament.
“They are winning more and more high-level cricket. And we saw in the last World Cup how strong they were in the one-day international format too. So, (they have) a highly skilled team and a range of threats,” Williamson added.
After the match against Afghanistan, the Kiwis face one of the favorites, the West Indies. Tournament masters, at least until the end of business, the Black Caps have reached the semi-finals in four of the eight T20 World Cups and lost the 2021 final to neighbors Australia.
Afghanistan seeking T20 revenge after ODI World Cup disappointment
Afghanistan coach Jonathan Trott believes his side have the advantage going into Friday’s match having played one more game than the Kiwis, who are among the last teams to start the campaign.
“I think we saw at the 50th World Cup that we are capable of competing with any team in the world. And that’s our philosophy here,” Trott said when asked if his team has the firepower to beat New Zealand.
“So every game we play, we hope to put ourselves in a position to win. Or fight to win every game.
“New Zealand [are] a very good side, a very good side in all formats of the game and [have] good game winners at your disposal. Playing New Zealand is always a tough match and I’m looking forward to it – but we played them in the 50-over World Cup where they beat us. So hopefully we can get them back and level up,” he added.
Field and climatic conditions
The field at Providence Stadium, in Guyana, presented a series of conditions. West Indies won the first match by defeating Papua New Guinea by five wickets in a nervy chase of 137.
However, the following match saw a better batting performance, with Afghanistan batting for 183, beating Uganda by 125 runs. The ensuing contest was a low-scoring thriller as Uganda chased down the target of just 78 runs, sealing a three-wicket victory over Papua New Guinea.
Trott said it would be difficult to predict what a decent surface total would be.
“Certainly after [Papua New Guinea vs Uganda] you’re not sure, so I wouldn’t want to sit here and put a number on it because the field we can play on is completely different,” Trott said.
“I thought what we did was pitch really well in our first game and we’re going to try to replicate that – because I don’t think the field will be very different, but if it is, we need to adjust and our boys will be ready for it.”
Ahead of the game, a storm is predicted to hit Georgetown on the morning of the game, but there is only a 30 percent chance of rain during the evening game.
Head to head
New Zealand and Afghanistan have met just once in T20 internationals, with the Kiwis winning by 8 wickets during their encounter in 2021.
Form
New Zealand drew their five-match T20 series with Pakistan 2-2 in April after one of the games was washed out. Before that, they lost 3-0 in the home series against Australia.
Afghanistan defeated Uganda in the opening match of the World Cup, while before the tournament they won 2-1 in a three-match series against Ireland in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates.
Afghanistan: WWWLW
New Zealand: LWWLL
New Zealand national team news
The Black Caps will be boosted by the return of their captain Williamson and opener Devon Conway.
Squad: Kane Williamson (captain), Finn Allen, Trent Boult, Michael Bracewell, Mark Chapman, Devon Conway, Lockie Ferguson, Matt Henry, Daryl Mitchell, Jimmy Neesham, Glenn Phillips, Rachin Ravindra, Mitchell Santner, Ish Sodhi, Tim Southee.
Afghanistan Team News
Afghanistan did not reveal any details regarding injury concerns ahead of the game.
Squad: Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Ibrahim Zadran, Azmatullah Omarzai, Najibullah Zadran, Mohammad Ishaq, Mohammad Nabi, Gulbadin Naib, Rashid Khan (captain), Karim Janat, Nangyal Kharoti, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Noor Ahmad, Naveen-ul-Haq, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Fareed Ahmad Malik.
This story originally appeared on Aljazeera.com read the full story
