Bye bye India, New Zealand through to T20 WC semifinals

New Zealand beat Afghanistan by eight wickets and sealed a semifinal spot in the 2021 ICC Men's T20 World Cup. Pakistan was the first team to qualify for the semis from this group and New Zealand's win over Afghanistan meant India wouldn't progress any further in the tournament. New Zealand lost their first match in the Super 12s against Pakistan but four straight wins after that guaranteed them a spot in the semis. 

Najibullah Zadran played a sensational knock and scored about 59 per cent of his team's runs. But others failed miserably with the bat and Afghanistan couldn't score more than 124. The Black Caps struggled a little bit through the middle overs but eventually chased down 125 with 11 deliveries to spare.

Afghanistan won the toss and chose to bat first. New Zealand bowlers were on a roll right from the beginning and got rid of the Afghanistan top three- Mohammad Shahzad, Hazratullah Zazai and Rahmanullah Gurbaz- in 5.1 overs. They were tottering at 19 for three then and desperately in need of a partnership. 

Najibullah Zadran and Gulbadin Naib added 37 off 29 balls for the fourth wicket before the latter was bowled off an inside edge while playing a short and wide delivery bowled by Ish Sodhi.  

Najibullah paired up with Mohammad Nabi and stitched an important partnership off 59 runs. Najibullah did the bulk of the scoring as Nabi struggled to get going. Nabi scored 14 off 20 balls.

Najibullah used the pace of the fast bowlers, hit the spinners down the ground and his two sixes off Mitchell Santner were signs of his terrific form. He got out in the 19th over, scoring 73 off 48 balls. The southpaw struck six fours and three maximums. 

After his dismissal, Afghanistan couldn't add much to the total and posted 124 for eight. Trent Boult was the best bowler for New Zealand, picking up three wickets for 17 runs. Tim Southee claimed a couple as well. The Black Caps were outstanding in the field, holding onto their catches and saving a lot of runs.

New Zealand openers- Daryl Mitchell and Martin Guptill- started off in a positive manner. Mitchell hit Mohammad Nabi, Mujeeb-ur-Rahman and Naveen-ul-Haq for a boundary each. But Mujeeb got the better of him in his second over.

New Zealand slowed down a bit after Mitchell's departure as Afghanistan applied pressure on them. When Rashid Khan removed Martin Guptill in the 9th over for 28, New Zealand were 57 for two, requiring 67 more off 55 balls to win.

But the experienced and reliable duo of Kane Williamson and Devon Conway ensured there was no more hiccup. Their unbroken 67-run partnership helped New Zealand get over the line in 18.1 overs. Williamson was unbeaten on 40 and Conway on 36.

"It was a strong performance. We know how dangerous this Afghanistan side is, they have got match-winners in all departments. It was nice to set the tone with the ball first up, take some early wickets which is always good and restrict them to a below-par score on a 150-155 surface. In the second innings, we knew there were big threats to navigate and we tried to suck things up and get as close as we could," Kiwi skipper Kane Williamson said in the post-match presentation.

New Zealand will face England in the semifinal. Kiwi skipper said they are looking forward to meeting the current world champions whom they previously met in the ICC CWC 2019 Final.

"They (England) are a very strong side, for us it's important we keep learning and focus on the sort of cricket we want to play. It's been an incredibly tough competition and we've seen a lot of tight games as well. We are looking forward to the occasion," Williamson concluded.

Trent Boult bagged the player-of-the-match award.