New Zealand will be up against Afghanistan in the fourth match of the ICC 2026 WT20. This match will be played at MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai and this is a Group D Fixture. New Zealand will be led by Mitch Santner. New Zealand have done well in ICC tournaments regardless of what team plays. Their batting looks solid and will be one of their biggest strengths in this tournament. They also have players who can adapt to different conditions. They lost the recent T20I series against India but they will be keen to start well.
On the other hand, Afghanistan won the T20I series against UAE and beat West Indies in the warm up match. They were the semi-finalists in 2024 WT20 and have shown that they can do well in the big tournaments. Rashid Khan will lead the Afghanistan side for this New Zealand vs Afghanistan match prediction. In this article we look at the playing XIs, top picks, pitch reports for this match.
New Zealand vs Afghanistan Match Details
- Series : ICC Men’ T20 World Cup 2026
- Match : New Zealand vs Afghanistan, Match 4
- Toss : To be updated
- Venue : MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai
- Match : Timings 11:00 am IST, 8th February
- Live Streaming : JioHotsar
New Zealand vs Afghanistan Stats
| Player | Team | Performance |
| Azmatullah Omarzai | Afghanistan | 719 runs & 45 wickets |
| Monank Patel | New Zealand | 930 runs |
| Rashid Khan | Afghanistan | 187 wickets |
New Zealand vs Afghanistan Probable Playing XI New Zealand: Tim Seifert(w), Finn Allen, Rachin Ravindra, Glenn Phillips, Daryl Mitchell, Bracewell, Mitchell Santner(c), Matt Henry, Ish Sodhi, Lockie Ferguson, Jacob Duffy
Afghanistan: Ibrahim Zadran, Rahmanullah Gurbaz(w), Sediqullah Atal, Darwish Rasooli, Mohammad Nabi, Azmatullah Omarzai, Gulbadin Naib, Rashid Khan(c), Noor Ahmad, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Fazalhaq Farooqi
New Zealand vs Afghanistan Dream11 Captaincy Picks Mitch Santner has picked up 135 wickets while also scoring 953 runs in 127 T20I matches. He will be a key player for New Zealand in this WT20. He will be a top pick for NZ vs AFG Dream11 match R Gurbaz has plenty of experience in the shorter format and has scored 2141 runs in 83 T20I matches at a strike rate of 134. He will be a good captaincy pick in NZ vs AFG Dream11 match.
New Zealand vs Afghanistan Match winner
New Zealand have recently played in India and although they lost the series, they have much better preparations. These two sides have a good rivalry but looking at the squads of both sides, New Zealand are expected to win this match.
