T20 World Cup: Williamson applauds Afghanistan following devastating loss, says ‘they simply outplayed us’

Georgetown: New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson applauded Afghanistan for their brilliant display of cricket after they were served 84 runs defeat in the ongoing T20 World Cup.

“Congrats to Afghanistan, they simply outplayed us in all facets. To get to that total on that surface, they kept their wickets and made a good score. We’ll have to put this behind quickly and get back to our next challenge. The boys did work hard in preparations for this match (on the lack of match practice), but it was hard and we need to move on quickly. Games come thick and fast in this tournament. 160 was a tough chase, but we needed partnerships, the skills they had made it difficult for us,” said Williamson in the post game press conference.

Rahmanullah Gurbaz was once again the star batter for his side as he gave his team the perfect start to the game scoring 80 runs off 55 deliveries which earned him the man of the match honor and fuelled the side’s score to 159 for six wickets.

The lethal duo of Rashid Khan and Fazalhaq Farooqi then went on to bowl a historic spell to sweep four wickets each to bowl out the Kiwi’s at 75 at the end of 15.2 overs. Rashid Khan bowled the best ever spell by a captain in T20 WC history (4/17) and Farooqi became the first ever player to take two consecutive four wicket hauls in T20 WC history.

“Our fielding was a let down, particularly in the first 10 overs, we had our chances and we didn’t use them. We need to take a step in the right direction, we know we are better than this, we’ll have to go away and give ourselves the best chance going into the next match. We didn’t take our opportunities and it goes a long way in changing the outcome of the match. Once they had a score, their bowlers executed their skills well. We’ll have a talk about this and then look to come back well in the next match,” concluded the Kiwi skipper.

The result has put the New Zealand side in a state of bother as they are already placed in what many deem to be the ‘Group of Death’ in this edition of the tournament. They are yet to face the toughest opposition of the group, the host team West Indies and cannot afford to lose any more points if they are to qualify for the next round.

–IANS