ICC World Cup 2019 | We’ve done our homework on Rashid Khan & Co, says Gary Stead

New Zealand have had a highly-successful ICC World Cup 2019 campaign thus far. They won their opening match against Sri Lanka by a huge margin of 10-wickets and followed up that with a narrow win against a strong Bangladesh team earlier this week. The 2015 World Cup runners-up will go up against Afghanistan in what promises to be an entertaining affair for neutral fans.

New Zealand head coach Gary Stead is confident that his side can maintain their momentum at the global showpiece as they gear up to face a tough Afghanistan team that boasts a stunning spin bowling department. The likes of Rashid Khan, Mohammad Nabi and Mujeeb Ur Rahman will pose a lot of trouble for the Kiwi top-order batsmen.

"It's hard to put too much focus on it because out of the 45 overs we face, 30 is with spin. A lot more will [fall to] spin anyway. We expect that when we face some of these Asian sides, in particular.

"We've played spin well in the past. Maybe the pressure of the moment a wee bit the other night made for some poor decisions. But we've certainly done the homework on the likes of Rashid and Mujeeb [Ur Rahman] and Nabi, who are definitely going to be a force for Afghanistan," Stead said as per Cricbuzz sources.

The 47-year old heaped praise on opponents Bangladesh who put the Kiwis in a tough spot after Shakib Al Hasan, Mehidy Hasan and Mosaddek Hossain took two wickets each in the second innings.

"Sometimes it gets tight like that that you can panic, but there was enough calmness still shining there at the end. And I hope the lesson that we can take from it is we took some poor options at times. Bangladesh put us under a lot of pressure. They're a really improved cricket team and played with the attitude of 'There's nothing to lose here'," Stead added.