New Zealand defeated Afghanistan by 149 runs in the 16th match of Cricket World Cup 2023 in Chennai on Wednesday evening.
Chasing a formidable 289 runs target, Afghanistan continued losing wickets at regular intervals and the entire team was back in the hut on 139 runs in 34.4 overs.
Rehmat Shah was the highest scorer with 36 runs, followed by Azmatullah Omarzai who made 27 runs.
Mitchell Santner and Lockie Ferguson bagged three wickets each and Trent Boult two while Matt Henry and Rachin Rahindra took one wicket each.
Glenn Philips was named player of the match.
After put in to bat first by Afghanistan skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi, New Zealand made 288/6 in the allotted 50 over after smashing 62 runs in the last five overs.
After departure of Devon Conway (20) with only 30 runs on the board, Will Young (54) and Rachin Ravindra (32) steadied the ship with a 79 runs partnership. At this stage, Afghanistan squeezed the run rate by dismissing three New Zealand batters with the addition of just one run.
Skipper Tom Latham (68) and Glenn Phillips (71) put on a match changing partnership of 144 runs and Mark Chapman cameo of 25 runs enabled the side to reach a competitive total.
New Zealand Team: Devon Conway, Will Young, Rachin Ravindra, Daryl Mitchell, Tom Latham (c)†, Glenn Phillips, Mark Chapman, Mitchell Santner, Matt Henry, Lockie Ferguson, Trent Boult
Afghanistan Team: Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Ibrahim Zadran, Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi (c), Ikram Alikhil †, Azmatullah Omarzai, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Naveen-ul-Haq
