New Zealand 183 for 5 (Seifert 65, Phillips 42, Mitchell 25*, Mujeeb 2-31) beat Afghanistan182 for 6 (Naib 63, Ferguson 2-40) by five wickets
After Afghanistan opted to bat in a day game, they posted 182 for 6, on the back of Naib’s 35-ball 63, which looked like an above-par total on a challenging Chepauk surface, which offered substantial bounce, especially in the early exchanges, and some grip to the slower bowlers.
That total looked a whole lot bigger once Mujeeb blasted out Finn Allen and Rachin Ravindra in the second over of the chase off back-to-back balls.
Phillips, however, kept out the hat-trick ball and combined aggressively with Seifert to loosen Afghanistan’s grip on the game. They snatched it from Afghanistan’s hands when they cracked Rashid Khan for 14 in his first over. Rashid – and Afghanistan – never really recovered from that as New Zealand wrapped up the chase with five wickets and 13 balls to spare.
