‘New Zealand completely humiliated them’ - Farokh Engineer on Australia's 89-run defeat in their T20 World Cup 2022 opener

11 years and 10 months - That’s the amount of time New Zealand took to finally defeat Australia on their home soil. On Saturday, the Kiwis challenged the Kangaroos in the first match of the Super 12 and absolutely hammered them to register a massive 89-run win. Devon Conway and Finn Allen got the Blackcaps off to a flyer with Conway smashing 92* off 58 and the youngster Allen scoring 42 off 16.

Their bowling was top-notch as well with Mitchell Santner and Tim Southee picking up three wickets each. They didn’t let Australia take any control of the match and with that, picked up two valuable points to kickstart their campaign. Former India international Farokh Engineer was delighted to see New Zealand play that brand of cricket and spoke on Australia’s latest humiliation in T20 cricket.

“Who wouldn’t enjoy (the game)? This game seeing the favourites being absolutely thrashed. Australia were rabbits in front of headlights. New Zealand completely humiliated them. They outbattled them, outbowled them, outfielded them and most importantly, outcaptained them,” said Farokh Engineer on BatBricks7 presents Run Ki Runneeti show on CricTracker.

“They have shaken the whole cricketing world. This is a completely transformed New Zealand side and I think Devon Conway gets all the credit for that,” he added.

Australia’s run rate is poor, will matter a lot for qualification: Farokh Engineer

It’s not just about the defeat but the gravity of it that will bother Australia going forward. Their net run rate (NRR) currently reads -4.450 and that might bother them on their way to the semi-final. Farokh Engineer too took notice of it and spoke about the matter in the same show.

“Their run rate is also very poor. That will matter in the qualifying stages. Who knows how the tournament gets on? But as we said earlier that there’s nothing taken for granted in T20 world cricket. Because one bad over or a couple of quick wickets can transform the whole game and New Zealand showed what a superior side they can be on their day,” the 84-year-old said.