New Zealand seal record T20 World Cup win, Seifert stars

Sports Desk
Tim Seifert’s devastating fifty helped New Zealand beat Afghanistan by five wickets to set their highest ever World T20 chase. The Kiwis surpassed their previous record of 167 runs against England in 2021 with Sunday’s win.

Afghanistan, batting first after winning the toss at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai, posted a challenging total of 182. In reply, Seifert’s 65 off 42 balls and Glenn Phillips’ 42-run innings helped New Zealand reach the target with 13 balls to spare.

The Kiwis were in trouble early on as they chased down the runs. In the second over of the innings, Mujeeb ur Rahman raised the possibility of a hat-trick by removing Finn Allen (1) and Rachin Ravindra (0) off consecutive balls. However, Glenn Phillips overcame that danger and put on a match-winning partnership of 74 runs with Seifert.

Seifert remained steadfast even as Afghan captain Rashid Khan bowled Phillips to break the partnership. After getting life at the hands of Rashid for a personal 48, the wicketkeeper-batsman completed his fifty by hitting the experienced Mohammad Nabi for a six. The dapper Seifert played a brilliant innings of 65 runs before being dismissed. In the end, Mark Chapman was dismissed for 28 runs off 17 balls, but Daryl Mitchell (25*) and captain Mitchell Santner (17*) gave the team an effortless victory.

Earlier, Afghanistan lost two wickets quickly when Lockie Ferguson fired a cannon. However, Gulbadin Naib, who came in at number three, played a stormy innings of 63 runs off 35 balls and laid the foundation for a big collection. He was well supported by Sediqullah Atal (29). They put on a 79-run partnership for the third wicket. The Afghans took advantage of Rahmanullah Gurbaz’s missed catch in the middle, but it did not prove enough against the Kiwi batters’ onslaught.

Brief scores: Afghanistan: 182/6 in 20 overs (Naib 63, Atal 29, Gurbaz 27; Ferguson 2/32, Rachin 1/21) New Zealand: 183/5 in 17.5 overs (Seifert 65, Phillips 42, Chapman 28; Mujeeb 2/33, Rashid 1/30) Result: New Zealand won by 5 wickets.