A very decent crowd of 15,525 in attendance at the M. A. Chidambaram Stadium in Chepauk Chennai, as The Black Caps maintained their 100 percent squad by defeating Afghanistan by 149 runs on Wednesday.
After being asked to bat first, New Zealand openers Devon Conway along with Will Young got their side off to a steady start. The pair added 30 runs for the opening stand before the former was trapped leg before wicket by Mujeeb Ur Rahman for 20.
Young along with Rachin Ravindra added 79 runs for the second wicket stand before Azmatullah Omarzai pegged Black Caps back with wickets of Rachin and Young for 32 & 54 respectively.
Rashid Khan then struck by claiming Daryl Mitchell (1) leaving their side in trouble at 110/4.
However some useful contributions from skipper Tom Latham (68), Glenn Phillips (71) and Mark Chapman (25)* propelled New Zealand to 288/6 in their 50 overs.
In reply, Matt Henry drew first blood by cleaning up Rahmanullah Gurbaz for 11. Rahmat Shah (36) and Azmatullah Omarzai made significant contributions by scoring 36 & 27 respectively.
The rest of the Afghanistan side failed to get significant partnerships as they were bundled out for 139 runs, giving New Zealand a comprehensive 149 run win.
New Zealand 288 for 6 (Phillips 71, Latham 68, Naveen 2-48, Omarzai 2-56) beat Afghanistan 139 (Rahmat 36, Omarzai 27, Santner 3-39, Ferguson 3-19) by 149 runs