Rampant Afghanistan mauled a lethargic New Zealand by 84 runs to grab top spot in Group C at the T20 World Cup with a shock win at the Guyana National Stadium on Saturday AEST.

Set a challenging 160 for victory, the Black Caps crashed to 75 all out off 15.2 overs to suffer their first defeat ever to Afghanistan in T20Is.

Opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz led the way for the Afghans with a top score of 80 off 56 balls, which included five sixes, posting 103 for the first wicket with Ibrahim Zadran (44) on the way to 6-159.

Left-arm seamer Fazalhaq Farooqi then followed his five-wicket opening match demolition of Uganda with the first three wickets of the New Zealand innings before coming back to claim a fourth, sealing the win.

Captain and formidable leg-spinner Rashid Khan shared the bowling honours with a haul of 4-17, including opposite number Kane Williamson with the first ball of his spell.

New Zealand’s capitulation and obvious rustiness leaves the 2021 finalists with a tough challenge ahead, starting against co-hosts West Indies in Trinidad next Wednesday.

“Congrats to Afghanistan, they simply outplayed up in all facets,” Williamson said after the defeat.

“The skills they had made it difficult for us.”

Afghanistan will next face Papua New Guinea at Brian Lara Cricket Academy on Friday, with the first ball scheduled for 10.30am AEST.

(AFP)

Afghanistan on Thursday held Asian champions Qatar to a goalless draw as they earned a precious point in their AFC Asian Cup 2027 and FIFA World Cup 2026 joint qualifying match in Al Ahsa, Saudi Arabia.

The draw broke Qatar’s winning streak after four straight victories in the qualifiers. The Asian champions are on top with 13 points, followed by India and Afghanistan on five points each, with Kuwait on the bottom with four points. 

“We obviously were not aiming for this result as we worked hard for a win. We tried to score especially in the second half but luck didn’t go in our favour,” Qatar’s Mohamed Aiash said in a post match comment. 

“We gained a valuable experience from this match and hopefully we will appear in a better way in our next match.” 

Afghanistan will now meet hosts Kuwait on Tuesday.

The top two sides from each group will advance to the third round of FIFA World Cup qualifiers and at the same time will book their berth in the next Asian Cup.

The United States beat Pakistan in a Super Over in Dallas on Thursday to achieve one of the biggest upsets in Twenty20 World Cup history and secure their second win of the tournament.

Pakistan, the 2009 champions, recovered from a poor start to score 159-7 but the U.S. plundered 14 runs from their final over to finish on 159-3 and send the match to a Super Over, Reuters reported.

The tournament co-hosts made 18-1, helped by two wides from Pakistan, before restricting their opponents to 13-1 to seal a famous victory.

“It’s a big achievement beating Pakistan and playing for the first time,” U.S. captain and player of the match Monank Patel said.

“The way we played today I’m really proud of the boys and it was a complete team effort from ball one to the last ball.”

Pakistan captain Babar Azam bemoaned his side’s batting performance.

“We didn’t capitalise with the bat and they took a lot of momentum. Credit to USA, they performed so well today. They were better than us in all aspects of the game,” Babar said.

BLUE SKIES

The match began under blue skies on a sweltering day in Texas with Pakistan soon reeling at 30 for three against an attack including five bowlers born either on the Indian sub-continent or to parents from there.

Mohammad Rizwan (9), Usman Khan (3) and Fakhar Zaman (11) quickly perished and only Babar stood firm to reach 44 before he was caught off medium-pacer Jasdeep Singh.

Left-arm orthodox spinner Nosthush Kenjige, born in Alabama, dismissed Shadab Khan (40) and Azam Khan (0) off successive balls to finish with three for 30 from his four overs.

Tall left-arm fast bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi brought respectability to the scorecard by hitting two sixes and a four to finish on 23 not out.

Afridi took the new ball, conceding three boundaries in his first two overs as the U.S. batsmen went for their shots to reach 44 for one at the end of the powerplay.

South African-born Andries Gous, who scored 65 in his team’s opening win over Canada, was quickly into his stride, driving Rauf through the covers for four.

Gous struck leg-spinner Shadab Khan, Pakistan’s most successful T20 bowler, for six and Patel hit consecutive boundaries off Iftikhar Ahmed and lofted Afridi for six to bring up his 50.

Gaus was bowled by Rauf for 35 and Patel caught behind off Mohammad Amir before Aaron Jones took over with an unbeaten 36.

The U.S. needed 15 runs off their final over to overhaul Pakistan’s 159 for seven with the powerful Jones at the crease facing experienced paceman Haris Rauf.

Jones struck the fourth ball over long-on for six but could squeeze only a single off the fifth to put Nitish Kumar on strike with five needed for victory and four to take the match to a Super Over.

Kumar was up to the challenge, however, stepping outside his leg stump and chipping a full toss over mid-off to the boundary.

Jones and Harmeet Singh collected 18 runs in the Super Over by running hard between the wickets and although Pakistan collected two boundaries, they needed six off the last ball to force another Super Over and could manage only a single.