Rashid revels in one of Afghanistan's all-time great T20I wins

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It isn’t a secret that Afghanistan have become a force to be reckoned with in the cricketing world. Their ability to match up and get the better of global cricket powerhouses was on display during the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023, where they defeated Sri Lanka, England and Pakistan.

And the sequence continued in the Men’s T20 World Cup, where the dynamic Asian side defeated yet another established cricketing nation in New Zealand.

After being sent into bat, Afghanistan followed the same formula that had worked well against Uganda, letting the openers take the charge and then unleashing Fazalhaq Farooqi with the new ball before the spinners took the lead towards the end to ensure a comfortable win.

Afghanistan skipper Rashid Khan made no secret of his happiness at the result.

“Definitely I think it's one of the greatest victories for us especially in T20, you know we haven't had those victories in T20 World Cups,” Rashid said. “We had in ODI, but in T20 I feel like this was one of the best performances from the guys and it's not just about a single guy in winning the game, it's a great team effort.”

After putting up 154 runs for the first wicket against Uganda, Rahmanullah Gurbaz (80) and Ibrahim Zadran (44) paved the way for yet another strong Afghan total with a 103-run stand for the first wicket against New Zealand.

“The way Gurbaz and Ibrahim started the innings,” Rashid added. “They took their time and they knew like you know what they're doing.

“They knew what my skills and where I can score runs and where I can attack and that's the beauty of this team.”

Rashid praised his side for being able to concentrate on their cricket without being overwhelmed by the opposition.

“Now we know [that] we need to beat the teams with our own skills rather than think about the opposition [too] much. And that's the only thing I have been telling the guys, just make sure we look into our skills, how good we are [and keep] focusing on that. [It] doesn't matter whoever we play [in] the opposition.

“It's more about how good you are, how good you're going to play and what type of energy you coming into the ground with and that for me is very important and I don't much care about the result a lot, to be honest.”

This was also the second successive game where left-arm pacer Fazalhaq Farooqi provided crucial breakthroughs with the new ball. He finished with 4/17 but did the maximum damage by sending back three Kiwi batters in the Powerplay, thus derailing their chase.

“I think the way he [has] bowled in the last two games is great, he has given all of us a great start in the last two games," Rashid said.

“And I feel it's very important in T20 where you get the good start in the power play, either [while] you [are] batting or bowling. I feel that is very important.

“The way Fazal has given us those starts in both the games, given that energy to the team and which we had carried on after the Powerplay.”