With dew expected later, 289 is a target Afghanistan can chase, though it will take some doing against the penetrative Kiwi attack. Especially since the in-form batter Rahmanullah Gurbaz has perished early, getting a thick inside edge to have his stumps rearranged off Matt Henry.
Earlier, an industrious 144-run stand for the fifth wicket between Glenn Phillips (71) and Tom Latham (68) helped New Zealand post the competitive total in Chennai. An enormous 103 runs came off the final ten overs as Afghanistan lost the plot towards the end. Their catching was terrible throughout and it allowed New Zealand to get 30-40 extra runs than it looked feasible at the halfway mark. They had to pay for the errors with both Phillips and Latham setting themselves up for the final flourish, and executing their plans beautifully to amp up the Blackcaps’ score.
Brief scores: New Zealand 288/6 in 50 overs (Glenn Phillips 71, Tom Latham 68; Naveen-ul-Haq 2-48) vs Afghanistan 27-1 in 5.5 overs