Afghanistan's seven-wicket win over Papua New Guinea on Friday, June 14, marked the end of Kane Williamson-led New Zealand's journey in the ICC T20 World Cup 2024 tournament.
Earlier in the tournament, New Zealand lost their opening two group stage matches against Afghanistan (by 84 runs) and West Indies (by 13 runs). They still have two more group stage matches to play: against Uganda on Saturday, June 15, and against Papua New Guinea on Monday, June 17.
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New Zealand still have two more games to go but these matches are now inconsequential as their journey in the T20 World Cup 2024 has come to an end.
For the first time in their cricketing history, New Zealand has failed to advance beyond the group stage in the T20 World Cup. The team had reached at least the semi-finals in each of the last three tournaments.
New Zealand are placed in Group C in the T20 World Cup 2024 alongside Afghanistan, West Indies, Uganda, and Papua New Guinea. According to the updated Group C points table, New Zealand are at the bottom in the 5th spot with zero points after two consecutive losses.
Afghanistan and West Indies, both unbeaten so far, hold the first and second spots, respectively, and are the two teams who will advance to the Super 8 stage. Both the teams have remained undefeated in their respective first three group stage matches.
Here's what New Zealand captain Kane Williamson said after two back-to-back defeats in T20 World Cup 2024:
"Conditions here are what they are and we can't make excuses. We need to keep getting better and keep finding a way, 10-15 runs that can make a big difference. We need to bounce back quickly, we are back in two days, we need to be smarter. The learnings are important and we need to pick ourselves up and go again," Kane Williamson said after loss against West Indies.