CHENNAI: An underwhelming New Zealand will be hoping to rediscover their explosive game against a dangerous Afghanistan in the opening Group D match of the ICC T20 World Cup here on Sunday.
The Kiwis went through a rather unstable preparatory phase ahead of the ICC showpiece, going 1-4 down to India, and Afghanistan are no less a threat.
The arrival of Tim Seifert and Finn Allen have given their top order a tad more firepower, but they need more substantial and consistent contributions from Rachin Ravindra, Mark Chapman and Devon Conway to capitalise on the starts given by the openers.
The sub-par effort by the middle-order was a huge missing link for New Zealand in the series against India as they struggled to force pace while setting or chasing.
An encore will have far reaching consequences for the Kiwis in a group that also has South Africa. Therefore Mitchell Santner and company do not want a slip-up in the first match and land in a marshy place.
Along with their batting, New Zealand will also hope for their bowlers to return to their thrifty selves after the series against India, where they proved expensive against a set of marauding home batters.
Even though he played just one match against India, Lockie Ferguson showed the virtue of having extra pace and, more welcomingly, he seemed to have added some more variations to his craft.
Ferguson will have to play a lead role to keep Afghanistan on the back foot here, along with Santner and leg-spinner Ish Sodhi. But that's a job easier said than done.
Afghanistan is a capable T20 outfit, evidenced in their rout of the West Indies in a bilateral series last week. Their strength is in the presence of handy cricketers throughout the 11, and any of them can be a match-winner. However, the bigger of that lot is Rashid Khan.
The spinner no longer carries the mystery element as he once used to, but the will to compete has not diminished one bit, keeping him a foremost name in T20s.
But Rashid will be stretched to merge the leadership duties with his primary strike bowler role, something he seemed to struggle with a bit in the past. He will need copious help from other bowlers such as Mujeeb ur Rahman and Noor Ahmad to make an impact.
As such, spinners from both the teams can expect some assistance from the Chepauk pitch, particularly because the match starts at 11 am and there will not be any dew.
The Afghanistan batting will revolve around Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran, and the consistent Sediqullah Atal too will be one to watch out for. They have the power and skill to give some harsh times for opposition bowlers, and it should make for an intriguing and interesting match.
Teams:
New Zealand: Mitchell Santner(c), Finn Allen, Michael Bracewell, Mark Chapman, Devon Conway, Jacob Duffy, Lockie Ferguson, Matt Henry, Kyle Jamieson, Daryl Mitchell, James Neesham, Glenn Phillips, Rachin Ravindra, Tim Seifert, Ish Sodhi.
Afghanistan: Rashid Khan(c), Noor Ahmad, Abdullah Ahmadzai, Sediqullah Atal, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Mohammad Ishaq Rahimi, Shahidullah Kamal, Mohammad Nabi, Gulbadin Naib, Azmatullah Omarzai, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Darwish Rasooli, Ibrahim Zadran, Zia Ur Rahman Sharifi.
Match starts at 11 am.