LIVE: Gulbadin leads Afghanistan fightback in Chennai

What a way to launch into day two of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2026.

After the pair's World Cup meeting two years ago, New Zealand will be desperate to not just get their campaign off to a flier, but exact some revenge against a supremely talented Afghanistan side.

[Scorecard]

Cagey first 10 overs as Afghanistan build total

Gulbadin Naib and Sediqullah Atal approached the post-Powerplay phase with maturity and care, helping their team reach 72/2 at the innings midpoint.

Seesaw affair in Powerplay

While not taking any wickets, the Black Caps made scoring tricky out of the gate, restricting their opponents to 15/0 off first three overs. But momentum started swining down the back half of the Powerplay, as Afghanistan pushed the pace to land at 35/0 after five overs.

The timing of Lockie Ferguson's introduction proved a masterstroke, producing the first breakthrough to start the last over of the Powerplay, removing Ibrahim Zadran (10 off 12). And to conclude the same over, he rocked Rahmanullah Gurbaz's stumps to claim the other opener, who made 27 off 22 balls.

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Teams & Toss

Afghanistan (Playing XI) - Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Ibrahim Zadran, Sediqullah Atal, Darwish Rasooli, Gulbadin Naib, Azmatullah Omarzai, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan (c), Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Ziaur Rahman, Fazalhaq Farooqi.

New Zealand (Playing XI) - Finn Allen, Tim Seifert (wk), Rachin Ravindra, Glenn Phillips, Mark Chapman, Daryl Mitchell, Mitchell Santner (c), James Neesham, Matt Henry, Lockie Ferguson, Jacob Duffy.

Afghanistan won the toss and elect to bat.