Rashid Khan hails one of the greatest Afghanistan performances in NZ win

AFGHANISTAN captain Rashid Khan praised the team’s collective display after they claimed an emphatic 84-run victory over New Zealand in the T20 World Cup on Friday night.

Openers Rahmanullah Gurbaz (80) and Ibrahim Zadrau (44) combined for 103 runs to power Afghanistan to a total of 159, before Rashid and Fazalhaq Farooqi took four wickets apiece as New Zealand were skittled for just 75.

“One of the greatest performances from us in T20I cricket against a big team. It is a great team effort,” Rashid said after the win at Providence Stadium in Guyana.

“Great win for Afghanistan, and it is a privilege to be leading this side and winning against New Zealand ... It started from the batting, with how Ibrahim and Gurbaz were running.

“We have to give 100 percent effort, losing or winning does not matter (to me). That is how we prepare. If we don’t give 100 percent, we will be missing something. I don’t care about the result a lot but it is about the effort.”

Player of the Match Gurbaz echoed his captain’s sentiment, adding: “Nothing is more special.

“We were waiting for this victory for three years. We finally beat them. The trust and the belief was there from the very start. We have the belief that we can beat any team on this surface.”

New Zealand captain Kane Williamson admitted that his side had been outplayed “in all facets”, but stressed that they could not afford to dwell on the result.

“To get a total like that on a fiddly surface, they kept wickets in hand and played it beautifully,” Williamson said.

“Not good enough from us. Quick turnaround, we have to regroup quickly and onto the next challenge. The boys were focussed and were working hard in preparation for this game, but it was not our best performance.”

New Zealand next face co-hosts West Indies on Wednesday, a day before Afghanistan take on Papua New Guinea.

Meanwhile, Bangladesh leg-spinner Rishad Hossain took 3/22 on Friday night to help restrict Sri Lanka to 124/9 in their Group D match in Dallas and propel his team to a two-wicket victory in a thrilling start to their campaign.

Player of the Match Hossain had an opportunity to secure a hat-trick after taking wickets with consecutive balls, but could not capture the final wicket.

“I tried my best. I tried to bowl it as normal,” he said.

In reply, Bangladesh reached 125/8, with Towhid Hridoy top-scoring with 40 from 20 balls to win with an over to spare.

Fast bowler Nuwan Thushara took two late wickets to leave Bangladesh still needing 12 runs with only two wickets remaining, but the seasoned Mahmudullah (16 not out) steered his team to victory off the last ball of the 19th over.

“Everybody’s body language was great, we gave 130 percent,” said Bangladesh captain Najmul Hossain Shanto.

“I think they bowled really well, but on a wicket like this we should have won this easily.”

Reuters