Afghanistan beat England, the defending champion, by 69 runs at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi on Sunday. and shocked everyone. This was the first 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup upset.
ICC’s Tweet
Releasing England crumbled for 215 runs against their three spinners after winning the toss and forcing Afghanistan to play first.
Opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz’s 80 off 57 balls and wicketkeeper Ikram Alikhil’s half-century helped the underdogs score 285 runs.
Read More: The biggest upsets in the ODI World Cup’s history
Gurbaz reached fifty swiftly, but leg-spinner Adil Rashid (3-42) bowled Zadran and stumped Rahmat Shah in his next over.
Eight fours and four sixes set Gurbaz up for a World Cup century. After skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi authorised a risky run, replacement David Willey dismissed the 21-year-old at midwicket.
Furious, Gurbaz raced to the pavilion and batted the boundary rope.
Afghan spinners Rashid Khan (23) and Mujeeb Ur Rahman (28) posted a competitive score that allowed their bowlers to go all out against England.
England lost the first wicket in the second over to left-arm bowler Fazalhaq Farooqi, despite their powerful batting lineup.
Afghanistan’s spinners took over after Mohammad Nabi removed Dawid Malan for 32. Mujeeb Ur Rahman sent Joe Root out for 11 runs.
Fast bowler Naveen-ul-Haq dismissed England captain Jos Buttler for nine runs.
England’s situation worsened after Rashid Khan dismissed Adil Rashid and Liam Livingstone.
Rashid Khan’s Tweet
The 35th over saw Mujeeb Ur Rahman dismiss Harry Brook, who had scored 66 runs, leaving England at 169-8.
Player of the match: Mujeeb
Being at the World Cup and beating the champions is a regional achievement. Mujeeb was pleased with his performance.
Powerplays challenge spinners, but I’m improving my net consistency. Dew was expected.
Rashid believed the victory would cheer Afghans, where earthquakes have injured over 2,000 and killed at least 1,000.
England lost their first encounter against New Zealand by nine wickets but won Bangladesh by 137. Afghanistan captain Buttler called it “a tough loss to take.”
Outperformed us. He said, “With the ball and the bat, we were not performing to the level we wanted to.”
Afghanistan has a great offence. We were stressed by them.”
In fifth place, England leads Afghanistan by one point after winning one of three games.
Afghanistan lost eight wickets to India, the hosts, and six to Bangladesh in two devastating losses.
Afghanistan’s 2015 World Cup triumph over Scotland was their only.
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