World Cup 2023: Afghanistan served harsh reality check as unbeaten New Zealand continue to impress

Afghanistan were flying high after pulling off what arguably is their greatest cricketing triumph to date, beating defending world champions England by 69 runs in their ICC World Cup encounter in New Delhi on Sunday.

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The manner with which the Afghan Atalans outshone the Englishmen in all departments compounded the Jos Buttler-led side’s woes in what has been an underwhelming start to their title defence so far. It also gave rise to hopes of Hashmatullah Shahidi’s sides shining brighter than ever and walking away with multiple victories this year after having won just one match across the 2015 and 2019 editions.

Read | Gurbaz, spinners script an upset for the ages for Afghans against England

A section of Afghan fans would have even been forgiven for harbouring faint hopes of their team staging a turnaround for the ages from here and going on to reach the knockout stage of the tournament.

On Wednesday, against a formidable New Zealand team at Chennai’s MA Chidambaram Stadium, the Afghans were given a reality check. A rather harsh one at that.

The Black Caps, one of the two remaining sides to not have lost a single match so far in the ongoing tournament, recovered from a mini-collapse in the middle overs to muscle their way to a competitive total on a Chepauk surface. The Afghan batters would not stand a chance during their chase and were shot out a meagre 139, crumbling in the face of sustained pressure from the Kiwi bowling unit.

The 149-run hammering not only resulted in Afghanistan losing their third match in four outings, but also a big dent to their Net Run Rate (-1.250) has made it all the more difficult for them to finish anywhere near the top four.

Afghans’ sloppy fielding costs them dear

“That’s what’s exposed us today, unfortunately.”

Afghanistan coach Jonathan Trott was as livid with his side’s fielding against New Zealand on Wednesday as he was delighted with their performance against England three days ago. The multiple dropped chances and misfields, after all, took the momentum away from the Afghans at a time when they were starting to exert pressure, and allowed the game to gradually slip in New Zealand’s favour.

It began as early as the second over when Rahmat Shah put down a chance in the slip region off Fazalhaq Farooqi’s bowling to hand Will Young a lifeline on 1; he would go on to add 52 more runs to his score. That was followed by skipper Shahidi fluffing a chance at midwicket after a miscue by Rachin Ravindra on nought, shortly after Mujeeb-Ur-Rahman removed Devon Conway.

Afghanistan later had New Zealand in a spot of bother by reducing them to 110/4. Two of those wickets, including that of Young, would fall in the same over from Azmatullah Omarzai. Once Rashid Khan dismissed in-form all-rounder Daryl Mitchell for just 1, the Afghans would have sensed an opportunity to restrict the Black Caps to a score in the range of 250 or below.

Rashid later had the opportunity to break the solid partnership that skipper Tom Latham and Glenn Phillips had managed to build for the fifth wicket after the former went for a reverse sweep behind square. The ball went straight to Mujeeb at backward point, only for the ball to pop out of his hand in the last second, and was followed by a death stare from the spin-bowling sensation.

That was by no means the end of Rashid’s misery though as Latham would get another reprieve in his very next over, with skipper Shahidi messing up for a second time on the day, this time dropping a sitter in the cover region after a leading edge.

Afghanistan captain Hashmatullah Shahidi was guilty of dropping more than one catch during the ICC World Cup match against New Zealand in Chennai. AP

Phillips and Latham made the most of the dropped opportunities, both batters going on to bring up their half-centuries. New Zealand were going at a steady pace up until the 44th over, at which point they were 210/4. A flurry of sixes and fours in the business end, some of which came off Mark Chapman’s (25 not out off 12) bat ensured New Zealand collected 76 runs in the last six overs to finish on 288/6.

Both the Afghanistan captain as well as the coach were unhappy with the way they fielded on the day.

“Well, we dropped a catch in the second over and we dropped a few catches, really. We dropped Ravindra on nought, we dropped Young on nought. So that sort of gives a little bit of momentum to the opposition.

“I think if we had taken those and with the wicket of Conway, we would have been in a much better position as well. Not only like they were, I think they were about 116 for four at one stage. So, we would have been in an even better position had we held on to those catches. But it wasn’t to be and unfortunately, we have to go home regretting those tonight,” South African-born former England batter Trott said after the game.

“Very disappointed because in this level you have to take those kinds of catches. End of the day, the (dropped) catches hurt us. The team was doing good, but the fielding, because of that we fell a little bit down,” Shahidi said during the post-match presentation.

Kiwis hunt in a pack

Afghanistan had posted 284 in their previous outing on Sunday after blazing half-centuries from Rahmanullah Gurbaz (80) and Ikram Akhilil (58). Theoretically, they could have backed themselves to chase this score down.

The difference however, lay in the fact that the Chepauk wicket wasn’t as batting friendly as the one at Kotla on Sunday, and would have required a fair amount of application from the Afghan batters, whose temperament would have also been tested to the hilt.

Additionally, New Zealand’s charge in the business end of their innings where they ended up scoring at nearly 13-an-over helped shift the momentum in favour of the Kiwis and pushed the Afghans to the backfoot.

Sport is as much a battle fought in the mind as it is on the field with one’s skills, and as was the case with the South Africans against the Netherlands on the previous day, the battle was half lost in their minds thanks to the sudden shift in momentum.

Both Gurbaz and fellow opener Ibrahim Zadran collected a boundary each before Matt Henry dealt a severe blow to Afghan hopes by castling the former with a ferocious inswinger for 11. Zadran departed a couple of deliveries later, getting a leading edge off Trent Boult’s bowling to get caught at cover.

Mitchell Santner then gave Afghans a workshop in the art of catching with a one-handed blinder at square leg to give Lockie Ferguson the first of his three wickets of the day, and it was only fitting that the man dismissed was skipper Shahidi.

Rahmat and Omarzai tried reviving the Afghan chase with a patient stand for the fourth wicket worth 54, only for the pair to depart in quick succession within a couple of overs of each other.

It wasn’t just the seamers who were bossing the Afghans. After his stunning catch, Santner also dished out a peach of a delivery to dismiss veteran all-rounder Mohammad Nabi, getting the ball to beat his outside edge and clip the top of off after pitching along the middle.

Having been a mainstay in the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) attack for a while now, the left-arm spinner sure knew what he was doing at Chepauk and would have had plenty of inputs for his teammates as well, including those associated with other franchises in the IPL.

Ferguson and Santner would then grab the remaining four wickets in a space of eight deliveries for just five runs as New Zealand wrapped up the victory in style and continued their dominant march towards a top-four finish with yet another clinical victory.