NEW DELHI: Afghanistan enjoyed their greatest day as they stunningly beat defending champions England in the ongoing ICC Men’s ODI World Cup 2023 on Sunday.
Afghanistan came into the match having lost 16 of their last 17 World Cup games, their only victory coming against Scotland in 2015.
Put into bat, Afghanistan posted 284 after a blistering knock of 80 from opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz and a half-century from Ikram Alikhil.
England crumbled to 215 all out in reply with Harry Brook the only batter to adapt to the conditions with a fighting 66 as spinners Mujeeb Ur Rahman and Rashid Khan took three wickets each.
Mujeeb picked up the key wickets of Joe Root and Brook to set up a famous win and he picked up the player of the match award.
“Very proud moment to be here in the World Cup and beating the champions, it’s a great achievement for the whole region. I’m so happy with this performance,” Mujeeb said.
“As spinners it’s hard to bowl in the powerplay, but I’ve been working in the nets to be as consistent as possible… We knew dew would be a factor.”
Rashid said he hoped the victory would put a smile on the faces of people back in Afghanistan, where multiple earthquakes have killed around 1,000 and injured over 2,000.
EARLY WICKETS
England lost early wickets, Fazalhaq Farooqi trapping Jonny Bairstow lbw and Mujeeb dismissing Root with a quicker ball that kept low and crashed into the stumps.
Dawid Malan made a patient 32 but fell to Mohammad Nabi, giving Zadran a simple catch in the covers, and skipper Jos Buttler was bowled by a peach of a delivery from Naveen-ul-Haq to leave England reeling at 91-4.
Brook stood firm, however, bringing up his half-century in 45 balls with confident strokes, but he was caught behind off to Mujeeb to spark wild celebrations before Rashid cleaned up the tail.
England are fifth in the group standings with one win from three matches, one place ahead of Afghanistan.
Live Score
Afg 284
Overs 49.5
Eng 215
Overs 40.3
However, he was furious that he was unable to go on to make a sixth century when he was involved in a disastrous run-out mix-up with captain Hashmatullah Shahidi in the 19th over.
Shahidi pushed the ball into the leg side and sprinted off for the run.
Gurbaz failed to make his ground and England skipper Jos Buttler whipped off the bails from a throw by substitute fielder David Willey.
An angry Gurbaz smashed his bat into a chair as he departed with his team on 122-3.
The ball before his dismissal, Rahmat Shah had been stumped by Buttler off Adil Rashid as Afghanistan undid all of their impressive early work.
Gurbaz had needed just 33 balls to get to his half-century as Afghanistan, put into bat, stormed to 100 without loss from 77 deliveries.
Once Gurbaz was dismissed, England’s spinners dragged the champions back into the contest in the middle overs.
The impressive Adil Rashid finished with 3-42 from his 10 overs having initially broken Afghanistan’s 114-run opening stand when he had Ibrahim Zadran (28) caught.
Rashid also accounted for the dangerous Rashid Khan who struck a quickfire 23 off 22 balls before his innings was ended by Joe Root diving catch.
But the recalled Alikhil chimed in with a 66-ball 58 after surviving being hit on the shoulder by a 147 km/h delivery from fast bowler Mark Wood.
Mujeeb Ur Rahman added 28 to the total off 16 balls as Afghanistan finished strongly.
England’s seamers endured a day to forget with Sam Curran conceding 46 runs off four overs and new ball bowler Chris Woakes coughing up 41 off his four.
England went into the game after a loss to New Zealand and victory over Bangladesh while Afghanistan suffered heavy defeats by six wickets to Bangladesh and eight wickets to India.
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