Published on: Nov 7, 2021 2:45 pm IST|Updated on: Nov 7, 2021 3:05 pm IST
NZ vs AFG Dream11 AFTER TOSS: The 40th match of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021 is scheduled to be played between New Zealand and Afghanistan at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi on 7 November (Sunday). While talking about the standings of these two teams in the ongoing edition of the tournament, New Zealand are placed at the second position while Afghanistan occupies the third slot on the points table in Group 2.
Both these teams are coming into this match after having witnessed quite different results in the ongoing edition of the competition. After their opening loss to Pakistan, New Zealand have made a strong comeback with three impressive wins against India, Namibia and Scotland. On the other hand, Afghanistan have also put up an excellent performance so far in the T20 World Cup having won 2 games against Scotland and Namibia.
New Zealand are placed at the 4th position in the ICC T20I Rankings with 257 rating and 7192 points. On the other hand, Afghanistan occupies the 8th slot with a total of 2826 rating. New Zealand have already won three matches in this ICC Men’s T20 World Cup while Afghanistan have emerged victorious in 2 games.
Fixture Name: Match 40, New Zealand vs Afghanistan
Competition: ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021
Date: 7 November
Time: 3:30 PM IST
Ground: Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi
Pitch Report: The surface and the conditions at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium are once again expected to be dry and slow. The spinners have extracted great amount of turn from this track and it will behave similarly in this match as well. There will be some amount of dew in the second innings. However, bowling first will be a safe option after winning the toss. The average first innings total will once again remain around the 150-160 mark.
Toss Update: Afghanistan won the toss and opted to bat first.
It will be a great move to pick a mixed combination of New Zealand and Afghanistan players in your respective dream fantasy cricket teams. Since it is the opening stage of the tournament, it will be a good decision to include more of batters and all-rounders to increase the chances of winning big contests. The likes of Kane Williamson, Trent Boult, Ish Sodhi, Rashid Khan and Hazratullah Zazai remain the must picks in this match.
WICKET-KEEPERS: Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Mohammad Shahzad BATSMEN: Kane Williamson, Hazratullah Zazai, Daryl Mitchell ALL-ROUNDERS: Mohammad Nabi, Gulbadin Naib, James Neesham BOWLERS: Trent Boult, Ish Sodhi, Rashid Khan
New Zealand will start as the overwhelming favourites in this game against Afghanistan. New Zealand team came up with a stunning performance in the last three games against India, Scotland and Namibia having won comprehensively. On the other end, Afghanistan will be eyeing to play with the best of their abilities in this crucial match and they have the ability to make an unlikely upset in the T20 format.
The New Zealand team will be eyeing to be at the top of their game both in the batting as well as bowling departments. The likes of Devon Conway, Martin Guptill, Kane Williamson and Glenn Phillips will have to play a significant role in the batting department and will be keen to be amongst the runs. On the other hand, the likes of Trent Boult, Tim Southee, Ish Sodhi and Adam Milne will form part of the bowling attack.
Related: KL Rahul Fastest Fifty in T20 World Cup 2021 – WATCH
New Zealand captain Kane Williamson will have to lead his side from the front in the remainder of the ICC T20 World Cup 2021. He played a lot of crucial knocks in the recently concluded UAE leg of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 season. Williamson has scored a total of 1891 runs while playing in 71 T20I matches at an average of 32.12. He has smashed as many as 13 half-centuries in the shorter format of the game. The Kiwi skipper smashed a crucial unbeaten knock of 33 runs against India.
For the New Zealand side, left-arm pacer Trent Boult has been a consistent wicket-taker across different formats of the game. He picked up 13 wickets in the IPL 2021 season at an economy of 7.90. Boult also has a fine record in T20I cricket for New Zealand having scalped a total of 54 wickets from 36 games at an average of 23.35. He ended up taking three vital wickets in the important last game against India.
NZ Playing 11 (Confirmed) Daryl Mitchell Martin Guptill Kane Williamson Devon Conway Glenn Phillips James Neesham Mitchell Santner Tim Southee Trent Boult Ish Sodhi Adam Milne
Related: Ravi Ashwin Funny Twitter Conversation with Rashid Khan
The Afghanistan side will be eyeing to play well both in the batting as well as bowling departments. The likes of Mohammad Shahzad, Hazratullah Zazai, Najibullah Zadran and Mohammad Nabi will be their mainstays in the batting department. On the other hand, Rashid Khan, Naveen-ul-Haq and Karim Janat will have to play an important role in the bowling department.
Afghanistan’s star player Rashid Khan will have to play a significant role in this T20 World Cup in the UAE conditions for his side. He has a lot of experience playing T20 leagues all around the globe. Rashid has a phenomenal record in T20I cricket having picked up a total of 102 wickets from 55 matches. The right-arm leggie has a fabulous economy rate of 6.22 and an average of 11.84.
For Afghanistan, Hazratullah Zazai has been an aggressive batter at the top especially in the shortest format of the game. Zazai has played just 19 T20I matches and has smashed a total of 660 runs at a phenomenal strike-rate of 152.74. However, his number in overall T20 cricket are absolutely amazing having scored more than 1800 runs at a strike-rate of more than 147 and has scored 10 fifties and 2 centuries.
AFG Playing 11 (Confirmed) Mohammad Shahzad Hazratullah Zazai Rahmanullah Gurbaz Najibullah Zadran Mohammad Nabi Gulbadin Naib Karim Janat Rashid Khan Mujeeb Ur Rahman Hamid Hassan Naveen-ul-Haq
Related: Chris Woakes Stunning One Handed Catch to dismiss Smith – WATCH
Watch the New Zealand vs Afghanistan ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021 match Live score and streaming on the Star Sports Network and HotStar app. All the players information and live match scores along with entertaining live ball-to-ball commentary will be available on the Hotstar app. A big panel of experienced commentators will be providing their expert comments during this entertaining NZ vs AFG encounter from 3:30 PM IST at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi.
India & rest of the Indian sub-continent (including Sri Lanka): Star Sports Australia: Fox Sports, Channel 9 United Kingdom & Republic of Ireland: Sky Sports South Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa: SuperSport United Arab Emirates: Etisalat Criclife USA & Canada: Willow TV New Zealand: SKY Sport Pakistan: Ten Sports, PTV Sports Caribbean: ESPN Bangladesh: Gazi TV Afghanistan: Radio Television Afghanistan South East Asia: Fox Networks Group Pacific Islands: Digicel MENA, Continental Europe and Central Asia: Yupp TV Singapore, Malaysia & Hong Kong: Star Cricket
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