Chennai, February 8 Tim Seifert's typically aggressive fifty was the driving force behind New Zealand's five-wicket victory over Afghanistan in a Group D match of the T20 World Cup here on Sunday.
Seifert (65, 42b, 7x4, 3x6) demonstrated why he has been nicknamed 'Bam Bam' within the Kiwi ranks, helping his team surpass the target of 183 with considerable ease.
Seifert had an equally focused partner in Glenn Phillips (42, 25b) as the third wicket pair added 74 runs in 47 balls to rescue New Zealand from a precarious 14 for two.
The success was a result of the skillful bowling by spinner Mujeeb ur Rahman, who dismissed Finn Allen and Rachin Ravindra off successive balls in the second over.
However, the New Zealand team bounced back through Seifert, who scored his fifty off 39 balls with a six off off-spinner Mohammad Nabi. As the afternoon progressed, the assistance for spinners from the pitch diminished considerably.
Phillips focused on Rashid Khan, hitting him for a four and six as New Zealand gained a significant advantage.
However, Nabi ultimately prevailed, dismissing Seifert, and Rashid also got his revenge by dismissing Phillips. Seifert was dropped on 48 by Rashid off his own bowling, and the wicketkeeper batter capitalized on the opportunity.
By then, New Zealand were in a strong position and achieved this through Daryl Mitchell and Mitchell Santner, who scored the remaining 28 runs without much difficulty.
Earlier, seasoned Gulbadin Naib made a fluent fifty, but Afghanistan had to settle for a slightly below-par score of 182 for six.
Naib (63, 35 balls) and Sediqullah Atal (29, 24b) added 79 runs off 51 balls for the third wicket, but the overall impression was of a challenging pitch.
This was reflected in Afghanistan's scoring pattern — steady rather than flashy: 44/2 in the Power Play, 77/2 after 10 overs, and 130/3 after 15 overs.
The last five overs produced another 52 runs, but ideally, the Afghans would have preferred to have more runs on the board.
Opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz (27, 22b) looked in good form, but a slower delivery from pacer Lockie Ferguson disrupted his innings in the sixth over.
In the same over, Ferguson, who used leg-cutters effectively, dismissed opener Ibrahim Zadran to bring Afghanistan back into the game.
Naib, who scored his fifty in 29 balls, played a powerful innings, hitting pacer Jacob Duffy for two sixes and a four as Afghanistan seemed to have regained momentum in the middle overs.
Atal played a supportive role, but could not maintain the pace on his own, and his innings was eventually cut short by Duffy.
However, his dismissal proved to be a blessing in disguise as Naib and Darwish Rasooli (20, 13b) added 33 in 17 balls as Afghanistan crossed the 150-run mark.
However, Naib was dismissed by part-time spinner Rachin Ravindra in the 18th over, and Afghanistan could not capitalize on the final over. Azmatullah Omarzai hit a couple of sixes to push his team past the 180-run mark.