Gulbadin Naib played a mature innings in Afghanistan’s first ICC T20 World Cup 2026 match against New Zealand in Chennai. He scored a fifty to keep the scoreboard ticking, with the sub-continent nation posting 182/6 in their 20 overs.
The veteran amassed 63 runs off 35 balls, with the help of 3 fours and 4 sixes and stitched an important partnership of 79 runs with Sediqullah Atal, whose 24-ball 29 played a key role in his team’s superb batting display.
Earlier, Rashid Khan won the toss and elected to bat first to put runs on the board and allow the spinners to take advantage of the good bowling conditions in the second innings. Afghanistan lost their first wicket on a score of 35 when Ibrahim Zadran departed after managing 10 runs.
Rahmanullah Gurbaz stayed in the middle for 22 deliveries and added 27 runs to the total, with the help of 2 boundaries and 1 six.
Darwish Rasooli (20 off 13), Azmatullah Omarzai (14 off 7) and Mohammad Nabi (10* off 7) were also impressive in the last phase.
Lockie Ferguson bowled with pace and dismissed two Afghan batters. Matt Henry, Jacob Duffy and Rachin Ravindra got rid of one batter each.