Guyana, June 8, (V7N Dhaka) Afghanistan's top-order capitalized on a sluggish New Zealand performance, posting a total of 159 for six while batting first in their Group C clash at the Guyana National Stadium on 8th June.

Opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz spearheaded Afghanistan's innings with an impressive 80 off 56 balls, featuring five fours and five sixes. He was dismissed in the final over by a classic off-stump yorker from Trent Boult, one of the few moments of brilliance from the New Zealanders during the innings.

Boult finished with the best bowling figures for New Zealand, taking two wickets for 22 runs, thanks to his performance in the 20th over.

Building on their momentum from a dominant 150-run opening stand against Uganda four days earlier at the same venue, Gurbaz and his opening partner Ibrahim Zadran (44 off 41 balls) took advantage of New Zealand's lackluster display after skipper Kane Williamson chose to field first.

New Zealand's sloppy fielding and errant bowling allowed Gurbaz and Zadran to reach 103 by the 15th over, before Gurbaz was bowled by Matt Henry.

New Zealand, having waited almost a week since the tournament began to play their first match and with no warm-up game in between, looked out of form despite being the 2021 finalists.

They opted to exclude rising star Rachin Ravindra in favor of Mark Chapman in the middle order. Meanwhile, Afghanistan made a forced change due to Mujeeb ur Rahman's lingering hand injury, bringing in spinner Noor Ahmad as his replacement.