CHENNAI: Kiwi opener Tim Seifert, all-rounder Glenn Phillips guided New Zealand to a five-wicket over Afghanistan in the opening game of Group D of the Men's T20 World Cup at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on Sunday.
They successfully saw off the Afghan spinners, although they had a tough start. They were dealt with a double-blow when spinner Mujeeb Ur Rahman sent both danger batters in Finn Allen and Rachin Ravindra. Both their stumps were sent flying by beautiful deliveries.
Those two wickets may have brought deja vu to the Kiwis dugout, when they lost to the same opponent in the 2024 edition in the Caribbean Islands. However, the third wicket partnership of 74 runs between Seifert and Phillips had otherwise, helping the team recover from 14 for 2 and build the platform for a comfortable win. Skipper Mitchell Santner (17 n.o) and Daryl Mitchell's unbeaten 25, after added contribution from Mark Chapman 28 ensured the Kiwis reach the target in the 18th over.
Santner expressed delight over his team's effort and to start the campaign on a winning note.
"It was a good day. We knew coming in, that Afghanistan are a threat and they showed that on today. We knew it was a massive game for us. It was a pretty good performance," Santner.
He stressed on the importance of assessiing pitch conditions with varying start times in the course of the league stage.
"(the wicket at Chepauk was) pretty good, but Afghanistan challenged us a lot throughout this game and as we thought they would. It was a little bit sticky to start, I guess with the 11 o'clock start, and we are playing 3pm, 7 pm different grounds... I think that's going to be a massive thing for us and probably any team throughout the competition to get a read on surface and conditions and assess what is the most effective ball," added the former CSK player.
Santner had a word of praise for Mujeeb who put the Kiwis in a spot of bother with his first spell.
"The powerplay is such an important part of this game, whether it's with ball or bat. And Mujeeb's tricks in the powerplay, it's always going to be a challenge. And he bowled extremely well. But I think it was a flat wicket in the end, which was nice. Some nice partnerships throughout. Most teams are trying to stack the batting. Most teams have a batter at eight, which is nice to have," he said.
The bowling all-rounder said that his bowlers need to be sharper going forward in the tournament.
"Again, I think we held our lengths for a long time, which is probably good on that wicket. 3 o'clock game, it might look different. It might just be flat to start. So, the cutters were holding a little bit. And I guess with the bat, I mean, it's those little partnerships that get you up to a big score. They ended up getting 180, which I thought was probably par on that wicket. It was a good chase in the end," added the ace left arm spinner.
Earlier, Gulbadin Naib's hard hitting 63 fifty powered Afghanistan to a commanding total of 182. His aggressive innings set the tone and gave the team momentum heading into the final overs. Naib and Sediqullah Atal came together to forge a valuable 79-run partnership for the third wicket steadying Afghanistan after early blows. Their composed stand helped rebuild the innings and shift momentum back towards stability.
It was pacer Lockie Ferguson, who made an immediate impact with a lethal over, removing both Afghan openers Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran, to put New Zealand firmly on top.
Rashid Khan gave his assessement on the match.
"Well, definitely, we don't want things to be like this, but I think it's something which we will learn, especially in the bowling department. I feel we put a good total on the board (182). But still in the middle, I think how we bowled every ball... we gave them more opportunities to score runs, and I think that's the area where we need to improve. Mujeeb started really well with the ball. Guys started well with the bat as well. Everyone got the momentum, but after powerplay, I think we didn't land the ball where we should have, and I think that's something to learn from here and move on to the next one,"Khan told broadcasters.
"We already have those meetings and discussions, like, what your plan A, plan B should be and as a bowler you have those plans with you, but it's just about the execution. I feel more than anything, you need to execute it in the right area and bowl in the right area. I feel we didn't land the ball in the right area consistently and that gave them so many runs in the middle overs. I feel if we bowled into the stumps and in the good length area, it was very hard to score, so and just mix it up. I feel that's something which we didn't do it and hopefully we don't repeat those things in the next game," added Rashid insisting that his team should not repeat the mistakes.
Jonathan Trott, Afghanistan's head coach felt that lack of control took the sheen away from Mujeeb's double strike in an over. This is one of the reasons why Afghanistan lost grip in the tie.
"We've got to be able to build pressure. When Mujeeb got those two wickets in the second over, we then conceded 38 in the next four. Hence, they still finished the power play relatively strongly. If we had reduced that, there would have been a bit more pressure on them," Trott said.
Nice to get job done, says Seifert
Seifert was adjudged the Player of the Match and was delighted to contribute for his team.
"Yeah, personally, it's always nice to start the tournament with a few runs under your belt. But the main thing is we got the win. Tough conditions as well out there. Lost a couple of early wickets, so it's nice to get the job done," said Tim.
"Yeah, for us, myself and Finn, we always looked to try and put pressure on the bowlers and we thought pace was going to be easier than spin. And then we just adapted throughout the innings there. And then I thought sometimes the spin actually came a little bit easier than the seam. So it went my way" he added, delighted to start the tournament on a positive note.