Highlights, New Zealand vs Afghanistan Live Cricket Score, T20 World Cup 2021: New Zealand eliminate India with eight-wicket win

The first two defeats made reaching semis impossible…

Let’s be honest... #India deserved not to progress after those first two performances.

A shocking exit from their “home” #T20WorldCup should spur a new thinking in Indian T20I cricket, helped by the change in captaincy and coaching staff.

Fresh direction, fresh ideas needed.

— Chetan Narula (@chetannarula) November 7, 2021

Opportunity lost…

After a decade India failed to make it to semis in an ICC tournament. But, what hurts more is another great opportunity lost. #AfgvsNZ #AFGvNZ

— R P Singh रुद्र प्रताप सिंह (@rpsingh) November 7, 2021

Sad…

India have failed to reach the semifinal of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup on 4 out of 7 occasions.

— Rehan Ulhaq (@Rehan_ulhaq) November 7, 2021

Thoughts?

Given their fandom, population and BCCI’s deep pockets, it’s still kinda remarkable India don’t dominate the sport à la USA in basketball. Not making the semis is a major failure #T20WorldCup

— Tristan Lavalette (@trislavalette) November 7, 2021

New Zealand reach semis with eight-wicket win!!

Another World Cup semi-finals appearance for New Zealand. It has been a highly professional performance today. Put in to bowl, the New Zealand pacers and spinners never allowed Afghanistan batters to build partnerships. And chasing a small total, skipper Williamson led from the front to take his team to the semi-finals.

After 18 overs,New Zealand 124/2 ( Kane Williamson (C) 40 , Devon Conway (W) 35)

Naveen back to the attack. Six from the over and New Zealand need just one more to reach the semi-finals. Impressive performance.

After 17 overs,New Zealand 118/2 ( Kane Williamson (C) 36 , Devon Conway (W) 34)

NZ are not up against a big total and the boundary balls in every over are making their job a lot easier. Conway collects a four in this over by dancing down the track against Mujeeb and smashing the ball down the ground. 10 from the over. Only seven needed by NZ.

After 16 overs,New Zealand 108/2 ( Kane Williamson (C) 35 , Devon Conway (W) 26)

Williamson and Conway keep NZ ticking along. Seven from Hassan’s over including a four for Williamson off a full toss. 17 more needed.

After 15 overs,New Zealand 101/2 ( Kane Williamson (C) 29 , Devon Conway (W) 26)

Conway starts the over by reverse sweeping Rashid for four runs. Singles from the next four balls followed by a sweep shot by the batter where the top-edge goes over short fine leg fielder for two runs. 100 up for NZ. 24 more needed.

After 14 overs,New Zealand 91/2 ( Kane Williamson (C) 27 , Devon Conway (W) 18)

NZ are 34 away from a semis spot. 13 from Nabi’s over including two fours. Conway brought out the sweep shot to collect two fours on the square leg. Three singles and a double also from the over.

After 13 overs,New Zealand 78/2 ( Kane Williamson (C) 26 , Devon Conway (W) 6)

After bowling a lot of spin, Afghanistan go back to a pacer. Naib bowls. Eight from the over including a four for Williamson through cover. 47 more needed.

After 12 overs,New Zealand 70/2 ( Kane Williamson (C) 20 , Devon Conway (W) 4)

A productive over from NZ off Rashid. Seven from the over which also included a pressure release boundary from Williamson who clipped the googly to cow corner fence. 55 more needed.

After 11 overs,New Zealand 63/2 ( Kane Williamson (C) 14 , Devon Conway (W) 3)

The dot balls keep rising! Conway failed to get a run on the first four balls of Hassan, and also got beaten on one of them after the length ball held its line. Some more tight overs could build some pressure on the Kiwis. Two from the over. 62 more needed.

After 10 overs,New Zealand 61/2 ( Kane Williamson (C) 13 , Devon Conway (W) 2)

Tidy over from Nabi! Conway worked away the legside ball for a single. Four dot balls to Williamson who collects a double on the last ball. Drinks break time.

After 9 overs,New Zealand 58/2 ( Kane Williamson (C) 11 , Devon Conway (W) 1)

With scoreboard pressure missing, NZ batters weren’t taking any risk. Guptill though decided to go for a slog sweep against Rashid’s wrong’un and lost his wicket. He failed to connect and got castled. 400 wickets in T20s for Rashid.

Martin Guptill b Rashid Khan 28 (23)

Guptill will be kicking himself for the way he got out. Guptill picked the wrong’un and went for a sweep shot but missed it completely and lost his stumps.

After 8 overs,New Zealand 53/1 ( Martin Guptill 27 , Kane Williamson (C) 9)

Nabi returns to the attack. Just three singles from the over which also included an lbw appeal against Guptill on the last ball but the batter had got an inside edge on the offspin ball.

After 7 overs,New Zealand 50/1 ( Martin Guptill 26 , Kane Williamson (C) 7)

Rashid Khan introduced into the attack. New Zealand bring up their 50 with five singles from the over. Only 75 needed more. Afghanistan need wickets here to get back into the game.

After 6 overs,New Zealand 45/1 ( Martin Guptill 24 , Kane Williamson (C) 4)

Strong start for NZ! Guptill finishes this over with two consecutive fours. The short ball was pulled to the deep midwicket boundary while the fuller ball was driven to cover fence. Excellent batting.

After 5 overs,New Zealand 36/1 ( Martin Guptill 16 , Kane Williamson (C) 3)

Hamid Hassan starts with a poor full toss and Guptill creams it down the ground for a four. The batter mistimed his lofted shot to long on for a single. A single for Williamson. Six from the over.

After 4 overs,New Zealand 30/1 ( Martin Guptill 11 , Kane Williamson (C) 2)

Mujeeb shows his magic to remove Mitchell. The batter edged the carrom ball trying to dab the length delivery to the third man. Williamson was also beaten on another carrom ball. Four from the over.

Daryl Mitchell c †Mohammad Shahzad b Mujeeb Ur Rahman 17 (12)

Mujeeb strikes! The carrom ball does the job. It was pitched on length, outside off and Mitchell opened the face of the bat to guide it to the third man but the ball turned away and kissed the edge on its way to the keeper.

After 3 overs,New Zealand 26/0 ( Martin Guptill 9 , Daryl Mitchell 17)

Expensive over form Naveen-ul-Haq. Two boundaries came from it with the openers collecting one each. Nabi can’t wait for the powerplay to get over to bring in Rashid Khan. He needs to attack now.