In a surprising turn of events at the ongoing Cricket World Cup 2023, Afghanistan has pulled off a remarkable upset against the defending champions, England. They secured a 69-run victory at Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi, marking their first win in the 2023 World Cup.
Notably, this is Afghanistan’s biggest win in the mega event as this is just their second win in World Cup history. Prior to it, they registered a one-wicket win against Scotland in the Cricket World Cup 2015.
England’s road to the semifinal now will become tougher after a defeat. They were beaten by New Zealand in the opening match as well.
Defending a total of 284 runs, Afghanistanwrapped up England for 215 runs in 40.3 overs. Mujeeb ur Rehman and Rashid Khan were the stars with both grabbing three wickets each. Another spinner Mohammad Nabi pocketed two wickets.
For England, only Harry Brook showed some fight with 61-ball 66 runs. Apart from that Dawid Malan scored 32 whereas Adil Rashid and Mark Wood added 20 and 18 runs respectively.
Earlier in the first inning Afghanistan piled up 284 runs before losing all ten wickets in 49.5 overs. Openers Ibrahim Zadran and Rahmanullah Gurbaz yielded a brilliant start for them after being put into bat first.
The opening duo started quickly and added 114 runs before Zadran walked back for 28. Soon they were 122/3 with Rahmat Shah and Gurbaz walking back. Gurbaz scored a brilliant 57-ball 80 with eight fours and four sixes.
Ikram Alikhil played a brilliant cameo of 58 runs in the middle overs to guide Afghanistan towards a decent total. Rashid Khan scored 23 runs while Mujeeb ur Rahman smacked 16-ball 28.
For England, Adil Rashid picked up three wickets while Mark Wood grabbed a couple.
