New Zealand National Cricket Team vs Afghanistan National Cricket Team Match: Afghanistan won the toss and opted to bat in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 Group D clash against New Zealand at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium here on Sunday, February 8, 2026. Afghanistan captain Rashid Khan said his side wanted to bat first on a fresh wicket. 

“We will like to bat first. First game for us, fresh wicket, put runs on the board and I think there will be more help for our spinners later on. I feel like having played in a few ICC events and played all around the world, all the players have played a lot and they have much experience, but it's just about making sure you bring that experience and then play the smart game. I feel like that's more important and we're fully ready for it and we are hopefully ready to deliver some great performances. Myself, Mujeeb and Nabi, the three spinners, but think there'll be help for the pacers as well. feel like it's a pitch that's going to be helpful for the fast bowlers if you bowl in the right areas. We have three pacers as well. Fazalhaq Farooqi, the all-rounder Azmatullah Omarzai and Ziaur Rahman Sharifi, the three pacers. Gulbadin can bowl as well," he said.

New Zealand skipper Mitchell Santner said the team had prepared well despite a hectic schedule after their India series. "

We were thinking about it (if he;d have bowled first), you know, there's some grass here. My six years in Chennai have obviously hasn't been much grass on this pitch, so I think it'll play pretty good. it was good. (on the preparations) I mean, we had a hectic schedule with the India series traveling around the country, but we had a few days in Mumbai, which was nice, our second warm-up game. And then, yeah, we're here now, but yeah, ready to go. I think everyone's back, which is nice. We were struggling a little bit with that warm-up game, a few boys down, but yeah, we've gone, it's similar, I guess we've got three seamers and then Neesham, the fourth seamer, with, you know, me, Rachin and GP as our spinners. Ish Sodhi, Bracewell, Conway and Jamieson miss out from today's game," he said.

New Zealand vs Afghanistan Playing XIs

New Zealand (Playing XI): Finn Allen, Tim Seifert(w), Rachin Ravindra, Glenn Phillips, Mark Chapman, Daryl Mitchell, Mitchell Santner(c), James Neesham, Matt Henry, Lockie Ferguson, Jacob Duffy

Afghanistan (Playing XI): Rahmanullah Gurbaz(w), Ibrahim Zadran, Sediqullah Atal, Darwish Rasooli, Azmatullah Omarzai, Gulbadin Naib, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan(c), Fazalhaq Farooqi, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Ziaur Rahman Sharifi