T20 WC: India ousted as New Zealand clinch semifinal spot with win over Afghans

India were sent packing from the T20 World Cup after a clinical New Zealand clinched a facile eightwicket triumph over Afghanistan in their final Super 12 game to claim the last available semifinal spot here on SundayIndias slim hopes hinged on Afghanistan upstaging the Black Caps as that would have brought the Net Run Rate into equation and opened the doors for Virat Kohlis men who only have themselves to blame for the ouster nowThe Kiwis were favourites to win on the day and they hardly put a foot wrong chasing down a small target of 125 in just 181 overs to join England Australia and Pakistan in the lastfour stageSundays result renders Indias final league engagement against Namibia inconsequential The team was outplayed in its first two Super 12 matches by Pakistan and New Zealand which proved to be its undoingThe side did bounce back for wins over Afghanistan and Scotland but the damage done by the previous two defeats was far too muchAlso read T20 World Cup Team India going out fighting rather than surrenderingKane Williamsons men who won four of their five Super 12 matches will be up against either England or Australia in the semifinalsOpeners Daryl Mitchell 17 caught behind by the Mohammad Shahzad off Mujeeb ur Rahman and Martin Guptill 28 who became Rashid Khans 400th wicket inT20 cricket were the only New Zealand wickets to fall in the afternoon matchWilliamson 40 not out 42 balls 3 fours looked unhurried during his knock and his halfcentury partnership for the third wicket with Devon Conway 36 not out guided the team homeThey negotiated the spin threat posed by Rashid Mujeeb and Mohammed Nabi quite well to ensure that there was no dramaConway got over a tentative start and hit Nabi for two boundaries in the 14th over to speed up the chase after a brief lullEarlier New Zealand pacers led by Trent Boult 317 dished out a clinical performance to restrict Afghanistan to 124 for 8 in their final Super 12 match of the T20 World Cup here on SundayAfghanistan who needed to win to keep their semifinal hopes alive reached the total mainly due to the efforts of Najibullah Zadran 73 off 48 balls Zadran stood out in a rather tepid display by the rest of his teammatesHe struck six fours and three sixes during his brilliant inningsThe Kiwi pace trio of Boult Tim Southee 224 and Adam Milne 117 did not give anything away in the initial overs as the Afghan batters struggled to get going and in trying to force the pace of their inningsIsh Sodhi 113 and Jimmy Neesham 124 were the other New Zealand wickettakers Neesham conceded only two runs from the final over of the Afghanistan inningsThe lefthanded Zadran rescued Afghanistan with a 59run fifth wicket stand with captain Mohammed Nabi 14 The team was placed at 56 for 4 in 10 overs when the two got together and dug their heels inHowever there was very little support for Zadran from the other battersA flurry of wickets after the fall of Nabi including that of Zadran ensured that Afghanistan did not get to a middling scoreBoult sent back Zadran and Karim Janat 2 in the 19th over as the Kiwis took control of the matchAfghanistan got off to a poor start losing the openers inside the first four oversShahzad 4 was the first to go in the third over when his uppercut off Milne flew to wicketkeeper Devon Conway who leapt high to complete a good catch on the second attemptThe wily Boult struck the second blow getting Hazratullah Zazai when the batters attempted flick took a leading edge for an easy catch to Mitchell Santner leaving Afghanistan at 12 for 2Soon it became 19 for 3 when Rahmanullah Gurbaz was legbefore to Tim Southee for 6Zadran and Gulbadin Naib 15 staged a mini recovery for Afghanistan with a 37run partnership for the fourth wicket during which the former came up with some good shotsHowever legspinner Ish Sodhi broke through for the Kiwis when he had Naib chop a widish delivery on to his stumpsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever