Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran shared a second consecutive century stand, leading Afghanistan to an 84-run win over New Zealand on Friday and putting them in charge of Group C at cricket’s Twenty20 World Cup. Gurbaz and Ibrahim had previously put on 154 runs in a 125-run win over Uganda in Afghanistan’s opening match and made 103 for the first wicket in a total of 159-6 as Afghanistan batted first after New Zealand won the toss. Fazalhaq Farooqi and Rashid Khan both took 4-17 as New Zealand was bowled out for 75 in the 16th over, its fourth-lowest T20 total.
Earlier Friday in Dallas, Nicholas Kirton scored 49 off 35 balls to help Canada earn its first win at a T20 World Cup, a 12-run victory over Ireland. In another match on Friday in New York, Bangladesh beat Sri Lanka by two wickets with six balls remaining in a tense match, consigning Sri Lanka to its second consecutive loss in Group D.
Gurbaz and Ibrahim are only the third pair and the first openers to post back-to-back century partnerships at a Twenty20 World Cup. They stayed together until the 15th over when Ibrahim was out for 44 from 41 balls. Gurbaz was eventually dismissed in the 20th over, having made 80 from 56 balls with five fours and five sixes. The Afghanistan innings contained nine sixes and ten fours. “We were waiting for this match for the last three years,” Gurbaz said. “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.”
New Zealand came into the tournament as one of the favorites after reaching at least the semifinals in the last six white-ball World Cups – 50-over one-day internationals and Twenty20 matches. However, they entered their opening match with no local warm-up match and with most players having been inactive for some time. This showed in the field where their performance featured dropped catches, overthrows, and misfields. “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. Very frustrating.”
In Canada’s match against Ireland, Nicholas Kirton helped Canada score 137-7 in 20 overs after being put into bat. Shreyas Movva also contributed 37 runs. In reply, Ireland was restricted to 125-7 with medium pacers Jeremy Gordon and Dillon Heyliger taking two wickets each. Canada, competing at the T20 World Cup for the first time, bounced back from their opening game defeat to the United States. Kirton, who hit three fours and two sixes, put on a crucial 75 off 63 balls with Movva for the fifth wicket, which turned the game for Canada.
Bangladesh opened its campaign with a two-wicket win over Sri Lanka in a match that became much closer than it should have been. Sri Lanka posted 124-9 batting first but lost its last seven wickets for 54 runs in just over 11 overs. Opener Pathum Nissanka top-scored with 47 from 28 balls. Bangladesh seemed to be coasting to victory at 109-5 in the 17th over, needing only 16 runs from 28 balls. Towhid Hridoy made 40 from 20 balls and Litton Das 30 from 38, setting Bangladesh up for an expected easy win. However, wickets tumbled and the task became more treacherous. Mahmudullah stayed calm amid the chaos to steer his team home, making 18 as Bangladesh chased 11 runs from the last two overs. Mahmudullah hit a six from the first ball of the 19th over, and the winning run came from an overthrow.
