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The runners up of the 2015 World Cup, New Zealand will lock horns with the winners of the ICC World Cup Qualifiers 2018, Afghanistan in the 13th match of the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup at Taunton.
New Zealand's World Cup campaign has got off to a great start as the Blackcaps have won both of their opening matches. They crushed Sri Lanka in their World Cup opener before recording a close 2-wicket win over Bangladesh. The Kiwis will take on another Asian team this week with the Afghans being their opponents.
Afghanistan have occupied the bottom position of the 2019 World Cup points table after losing their fixtures against Australia and Sri Lanka. Gulbadin Naib's men have struggled to match up with the top nine teams of the world and they will find it hard to trouble the Blackcaps.
In their previous World Cup meeting, New Zealand defeated Afghanistan by 6 wickets. The Afghan side batted first and posted 186 on the board in 47.4 overs before losing all of their wickets. Samiullah Shenwari and Najibullah Zadran recorded half-centuries in that game but 7 Afghan batsmen failed to reach double digits.
Daniel Vettori was the wrecker-in-chief that day with figures of 4/18 in 10 overs. Left-arm fast bowler, Trent Boult scalped 3 wickets including that of Asghar Afghan. Brendon McCullum and Martin Guptill then blew away the opposition with their masterful batting.
The way New Zealand have dominated the proceedings in their first two matches, we can back the likes of Matt Henry, Kane Williamson, Ross Taylor, and Trent Boult to come to the party at Taunton and solidify their position at the top.
The last time New Zealand lost a group stage match in the World Cup was on 18th March 2011 when Sri Lanka thrashed them by 112 runs. Since then, they have won every group stage match in the ICC World Cup. With form and momentum both on their side, we can expect New Zealand to leave Taunton with 2 more points add to their tally.
Predicted Winner of Today's Match - New Zealand
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