ICC Men's T20 WC 2026 | Match 4: New Zealand vs Afghanistan | Preview and Prediction 

New Zealand and Afghanistan will both be looking to have a positive start to their respective campaigns as they face off in Match 4 of the 2026 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup on Sunday.

Here, we present our preview and predictions for the game.

ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 | Match 4: NZ vs AFG | 11:00 IST, February 8, 2026

New Zealand recently got themselves into prep mode by playing a five-match T20I series against India in India and against the West Indies at home. They won the home series against the Windies 3–1, but they were run close in two out of the three games they won, with the margins of victory being three runs and nine runs in those games.

Against India, while most of the venues in the T20I series are not being used for the World Cup, the Kiwis would still have learned a great deal about the conditions they will encounter over the course of the tournament.

As far as their performance in the series against India was concerned, they were on the receiving end of a comprehensive 4–1 thrashing, though there were a few positives to take. Their batting seems to be in fine fettle, with Daryl Mitchell looking in beautiful touch, Finn Allen and Glenn Phillips giving them the aggression up the order and in the middle, and even skipper Mitchell Santner having had a couple of strong outings, which will give his side the late impetus towards the end of their innings.

As far as their bowling goes, there is still a lot left to be desired. Every NZ bowler went for plenty in both series. Santner, Matt Henry, Lockie Ferguson, and Jacob Duffy all were taken for plenty. While on one hand it can be said that these performances were largely against an Indian batting line-up that is operating at a different level, many of the underlying problems reared their head against the West Indies as well, and they will have to get their act together against Afghanistan if they want to start with a win.

Speaking of Afghanistan, they’ve been a bit of a mixed bag in terms of T20Is since their maiden semi-final appearance at the 2024 World Cup. They were far from their best at last year’s Asia Cup, after which followed a 3–0 whitewash at the hands of Bangladesh. They did get back to winning ways in good style, however, winning five of their next six matches against Zimbabwe and the West Indies, ensuring that they enter this tournament on the back of some good form and momentum.

Rashid Khan will once again be tasked to lead the fortunes of his Afghan side, with added expectations to go one better after their performances in the last T20 World Cup. And he has a fairly stacked squad at his disposal to achieve this objective.

Ibrahim Zadran, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Sediqullah Atal, and Drawish Rasool make for a strong front four. The evergreen Mohammad Nabi, the excellent Azmatullah Omarzai, and Khan himself have enough power down the stretch.

The bowling setup is also filled with quality despite the omission of spinner Allah Ghazanafar, with Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Fazalhaq Farooqi, and Naveen-ul-Haq. With head coach Jonathan Trott announcing his decision to step down after this tournament, Rashid Khan and Co will be further motivated to give him a much-deserved send-off.

While both teams enter this competition with a middling record in their recent fixtures, form always tends to take a back seat when it comes to tournament cricket and one-off meetings. These are two well-drilled sides who will fight for every inch as they look to make a winning start in this tournament, which will go a long way to solidify their respective chances to make it to the next round.

This is a very close game to call, but we have Afghanistan as our favourites for this contest. They got the better of the Kiwis in the same stage of the tournament last time out, and that was a much better and more well-rounded spin attack than the current one.

Fantasy XI: Finn Allen, Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Sediqullah Atal, Daryl Mitchell (c), Glenn Phillips, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Mitchell Santner, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Jacob Duffy, Lockie Ferguson

Venue: MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai
Winners Prediction: Afghanistan