Afghanistan look in a spot of bother after the end of the powerplay in their Super 12 clash against New Zealand in Abu Dhabi on Sunday, 7 November. The blue brigade lost three wickets, scoring just 23 runs in the first six overs. New Zealand pacers were all over the Afghan batting lineup with their short bowling ploy and didn’t let the openers Hazratullah Zazai and Mohammad Shahzad settle in.
Adam Milne removed Shahzad in the third over for just 4 runs off 11 balls. In the very next over, Trent Boult removed Zazai, getting him caught at short mid-wicket. The pace trio wasn't done yet as after picking up two wickets in the first four overs, Southee came back to get Rahmanullah Gurbaz plumb in front of the wickets to push the Afghani top order out of the equation. At the time of writing this, Gulabadin Naiband Najeebullah Zadran were batting at 10 and 6 respectively with the Afghan total at 36-3 at the end of the 8th over.