Afghanistan dismantle Kiwis as Rashid, Farooqi run amok

Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran shared a second consecutive century stand which led Afghanistan to an 84-run win over New Zealand on Friday and put it in charge of Group C at the T20 World Cup.

Gurbaz and Ibrahim put on 154 in a 125-run win over Uganda in Afghanistan's opening match and made 103 for the first wicket in a total of 6-159 as Afghanistan batted first after New Zealand won the toss.

Fazalhaq Farooqi and Rashid Khan then both took 4-17 as New Zealand were bowled out for 75 in the 16th over, their fourth-lowest T20 total.

Gurbaz and Ibrahim are only the third pair and first openers to post back-to-back century partnerships at a T20 World Cup. They stayed together until the 15th over on Friday when Ibrahim was out for 44 from 41 balls.

Gurbaz batted until the 20th over, having made 80 from 56 balls with five fours and five sixes as Afghanistan put the foot down in the death overs, scoring 53 runs in the final five overs.

"We were waiting for this match for the last three years," Gurbaz said after Afghanistan beat the Black Caps for the first time in men's T20 internationals.

"We played them at the World Cup three years ago and they beat us.

"Finally we beat them. We had the trust and belief in ourselves from the very start. We have the belief we can beat any team in this competition on this surface."

New Zealand came into the tournament as one of the favourites after reaching at least the semi-finals at the last six white-ball World Cups — both 50-over and T20 formats.

But they also came into their opening match with no local warm-up match and with most players having been inactive for some time. That showed in the field where their performance featured dropped catches, overthrows and misfields.

After 10 overs, Afghanistan was 0-55 and Gurbaz and Ibrahim were scoring at less a run a ball. After the drinks break, the pair came out with a completely different approach and hit five sixes between the 11th and 13th overs, giving new impetus to the Afghan innings.

Glenn Phillips' 18 was New Zealand's top scorer.

"Afghanistan outplayed us in all facets of the game," New Zealand captain Kane Williamson said. "From our perspective it wasn't good enough in terms of starting a tournament."

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