New Zealand cricket team lost two games on the trot and are on the brink of T20 World Cup 2024 exit. Earlier, they succumbed to Afghanistan by 84 runs, which was their biggest-ever defeat while chasing at the shortest format mega event.

They will need several things to go in their favour, meaning that their hopes of reaching the Super 8's are all but over. It is an unusual scenario for Black Caps, who are a high-performing team in ICC events and failed to crack the code in the first two games.

Besides that, they are part of one of the two groups of death and a margin for error put them on the backfoot. As they are on the verge of getting eliminated in the first round, let's stroll at the three reasons why the Kiwis ran through a rare ICC event failure.

1. Top-order collapse: Struggling get accustomed to the conditions is one thing but New Zealand's top-order collapsed miserably in the first two games against Afghanistan and the West Indies. Devon Conway and Finn Allen failed to lead the attack by example. As a result, it put additional pressure on the middle and lower-order batters. Unfortunately, the remaining batters failed to bear the added responsibility before succumbing to the opponents in the run-chases.

Besides that, the batters struggled against spinners, Kane Williamson, in particular was supposed to be leading the batting attack but fell prey to spin bowling in both games. Williamson's record against left-arm orthodox spinners has been dismal as he has been dismissed seven times since 2018 in T20Is. His most recent dismissal came against West Indies' Gudakesh Motie, who is a left-arm orthodox spinner.

2. Lack of big partnerships: Kane Williamson & Co's chances now hang by the slimmest of threads in the unpredictable nature of the format. So, who's to blame? It is no secret the pitch was not the easiest to bat and the batters had to show application and technique to go about their work. The lack of a big partnership hurt New Zealand badly in the first place, which saw them struggle to dictate the terms while chasing against Afghanistan and the West Indies.

3. Combined failure of New Zealand-bound IPL players: New Zealand thoroughly lacked the killer instinct to churn out results in their favour. Devon Conway was ruled out of IPL 2024 due to an injury and had he featured in the tournament, he would have been in good rhythm in the T20 World Cup.

Kane Williamson who failed to the boxes as a captain and batter in the ongoing tournament warmed the bench in IPL 2024. The likes of Rachin Ravindra, Daryl Mitchell, Glenn Phillips collapsed under pressure. The aforementioned players just couldn't lift the team's morale when it mattered.