Afghanistan registered an 84-run win over New Zealand in the ongoing ICC T20 World Cup 2024. And, Rashid Khan referred to it as “one of our greatest performances in T20”. He played a key role with the ball in the victory, taking 4 for 17 – figures matched by left-arm seamer Fazalhaq Farooqi – as New Zealand got out for just 75 runs inside 16 overs in a chase of 159. Ahead of the two four-fors, the significant win was set up by another century-opening partnership between Rahmanullah Gurbaz (80 off 56) and Ibrahim Zadran (44 off 41) as well.

“It’s one of the greatest performances from us, especially in T20s against a big team New Zealand. It was a great team effort, not just the bowling…,” Rashid Khan said. “The way Ibrahim and Gurbaz started again, the wicket was not easy. They did not throw away their wickets in overs 7-10. But the way they played, they didn’t throw away their wickets early on when they had a few dot balls from overs seven to nine. I think that was the time when they thought about taking it deep. Overall it was a great effort, great win for Afghanistan and it’s a great feeling to be leading this side and winning against New Zealand.”

However, Rashid Khan also said that he saw a score of about 160-170 runs as par in conditions that offered a little swing, seam and spin to the bowlers and Afghanistan used this very well. And, New Zealand captain Kane Williamson had named Afghanistan’s bowling unit as one of the better ones going around in the competition as well.

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“It’s something we have discussed before coming into the competition. Anything around 160-170 we score on this track, with the bowling unit we have, we will give tough time to the opposition. We knew there was support for the bowlers in the wicket. As long as we keep things simple and hit the right areas consistently, it was going to be more effective for us, and that’s what happened,” Rashid Khan said. “The spinners and especially the seamers, the way they started bowling and then [Mohammad] Nabi the second over, that gave us a very positive sign for the spinners that the ball is turning. Dew was there but still bowling tight, wicket to wicket, and the skills as a bowling unit we have, if we use our skills [to the potential], it’s going to be very hard for the opposition to score 160.”

Meanwhile, Kane Williamson also admitted that his team was outplayed totally without making any excuse about how he and a few other players came into the tournament without too much game time under their belt as well.

“It’s the opportunities we had and we didn’t take and on a surface like that, it goes a long way to changing the score and the outcome. We had a couple of overs to perhaps keep it something defendable but we needed to get a lot right in the second innings with what was on offer and they executed really well,” Williamson said.

“The most frustrating part, I think, was the fielding in the first ten overs. It’s difficult on a wicket like that when you are not putting it together in the field, to restrict opposition teams. We certainly had opportunities in that first half and we didn’t take it. They simply outplayed us in all facets of the game. To get a total like that on a fiddly surface, they kept wickets in hand and played it beautifully. From our perspective, it wasn’t good enough in terms of starting a tournament. It’s very frustrating, but it’s a quick turnaround for us now, we have to regroup quickly and move on to our next challenge,” he added.

“I think it is about taking a step in the right direction first,” Kane Williamson concluded. “Our performance was not good enough and we expected more from ourselves, and we know we are better than that. We know we’ve got another big challenge coming up, and the West Indies are playing fantastic cricket. For us it is about putting together a performance we can be proud of and gives us the best chance.”