ICC World Cup 2023 Match Prediction: New Zealand vs Afghanistan

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New Zealand vs Afghanistan will be the 16th ICC Cricket World Cup, which is going to be played on MA Chidambaram, Chennai, on October 18th, 2023. It is going to be an exciting match as both teams are coming off after winning against their last opponents.

New Zealand has been on a roll after winning all three matches of the World Cup, and their last win against Bangladesh was quite comfortable as they won by 8 wickets, chasing down a total of 248 in 42.5 overs. Kane Williamson might have the worst luck as he came back to the team after 8+ months and also scored an amazing knock of 78 but then retired hurt as he got hit on the thumb. It is confirmed that he will not going to play any match this month and might play in the next month.

Lockie Ferguson was given the Player of the Match award after bowling an amazing spell. He took 3 wickets and gave only 49 runs in his 10-over spell. Daryl Mitchell scored 89 runs in just 67 balls with a strike rate of 132.

Afghanistan had the greatest win of all time as they defeated the defending champions, England, by a huge margin of 69 to make it the greatest upset of all time in the World Cup. England has always faced the biggest upsets in the World Cup. Most of the Indian fans supported Afghanistan in the Arun Jaitley stadium, and they delivered in the most amazing way.

The batting unit of Afghanistan started quite well as both openers had 114 partnerships, and it was Rahmanullah Gurbaz who put his leg on the accelerator and scored 80 runs in just 57 balls, but the great batting came from their new player Ikram Alikhil who scored 58 runs. Rashid Khan and Mujeeb had a solid 51-run partnership, which took Afghanistan to a total of 284 runs.

Rashid Khan stated that this win is for all the Afghanistan fans and people who are going through a hard time because of recent Taliban events and also the earthquake disaster they faced.

Afghanistan will have a good chance against New Zealand in the MA Chidambaram Stadium, which helps spinners more than pace bowlers, as seen in the last match between New Zealand vs Bangladesh and the match between India and Australia.

Where To Watch New Zealand VS Afghanistan 16Th ICC World Cup 2023 Match

Match	New Zealand vs Afghanistan 16th ICC World Cup Match, 2023
Date & Time	October 18th, 2023, Saturday, 2:00 PM IST
Venue	MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai
Channel	Disney Hotstar

Player Injury Report For New Zealand vs Afghanistan 16Th ICC World Cup Match

Kane Williamson once again got injured and will not feature in any matches which is going to be played this month because of his fractured thumb.

New Zealand vs Afghanistan Head-to-Head ODI Record

Match Played	2
New Zealand Won	2
Afghanistan Won	0
Tie/NR	0/0

It is not going to be easy for New Zealand to win against Afghanistan on the Chennai pitch, which favors spinners more.

Weather Conditions For New Zealand VS Afghanistan 16Th World Cup Match

The weather will be partly clouded, and the temperature will be around 32 degrees Celcius.

Pitch Report of MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai, New Zealand vs Afghanistan Match On October 18th, 2023

Match Played	36 Matches
Batting first won	17 Matches won
Batting second won	18 Matches won
Average 1st innings scores	224 Runs
Highest Team innings total	337/7 by AsiaXI
Lowest Team innings total	69/10 by Ken

MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai pitch will again favor spinners just like it did in the match between India and Australia. The pitch favors the batter more under the light, and it gets easier to play shots, which was seen in the last match when New Zealand batted second against Bangladesh on the same pitch. However, in the last match, the pitch was better for batters than it was in the match between India and Australia.

Team Preview Of New Zealand

New Zealand will face a tough battle against Afghanistan on the spin-friendly surface, which is going to be more helpful for the Sri Lanka spinners, but the spinners of New Zealand also have been in sensational form as Santner leading his side, taking up 8 wickets in last 3 matches including the 5-wicket haul against Netherlands.

Important players for the New Zealand Team in the match against Afghanistan

1- Rachin Ravindra needs to pull himself up after a bad performance in the last match against Bangladesh, but he does have everything, and the condition will favor him. He scored 183 runs in the last 3 matches in the World Cup and took two wickets also, which makes him one of the important players for New Zealand.

2- Mitchell Santner has been the best bowler for the New Zealand team, and he will be the upfront bowler for them on the spin-friendly pitch of Chennai. He took 8 wickets in 3 matches, and that too, which was not a spin-friendly pitch. He also can contribute with the bat if needed.

2- Glenn Philips is enjoying his role as a part-time spinner and took 3 wickets in 3 matches, which is an amazing performance by him. He did not get an opportunity to bat as New Zealand finished the game before his batting came.

Team Preview Afghanistan

Afghanistan will be super hyped after winning against the defending champions England in their last match and will be coming strong against New Zealand. The efforts Afghanistan made in the last match were commendable, but it will not be easy for them to bowl against New Zealand, who will be coming in the match after winning all three matches they played in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 till now.

Important players for the Afghanistan Team in the match against the New Zealand Team

1- Rahmanullah Gurabz had an amazing last match against England, scoring 80 runs in just 57 balls, but gave away his wicket as a runout, which was a sad part of it, but still, he is one of the best strikers of the Afghanistan team. He has a 47.8 average in the last 10 matches, scoring 478 runs, which is an amazing performance by him.

2- Mujeeb Ur Rahman had an amazing last match against England as he took the most important wickets and was given the player of the match for his 28 runs + 3 wickets that helped his team to win the match against the champions.

3- Rashid Khan has been the main player of Afghanistan, and in the last match, he at last showed a glimpse of what he can do as he took 3 wickets against the England side. He needs to keep performing better in the World Cup if the Afghanistan team wants to get more points in their pockets.

New Zealand vs Afghanistan Match Prediction

New Zealand will be the favorite to win against Afghanistan, but there is a very slight chance of Afghanistan winning the match if the pitch favors spin heavily.

New Zealand vs Afghanistan: Probable Playing 11 of New Zealand

Devon Conway, Will Young, Rachin Ravindra, Daryl Mitchell, Tom Latham(w/c), Glenn Phillips, Mark Chapman, Mitchell Santner, Matt Henry, Ish Sodhi, Trent Boult

New Zealand vs Afghanistan: Probable Playing 11 of Afghanistan

Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Ibrahim Zadran, Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi(c), Mohammad Nabi, Ikram Alikhil(w), Azmatullah Omarzai, Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Naveen-ul-Haq, Noor Ahmad