Result: Afghanistan won the match by 69 runs.
Player of the match: Mujeeb ur Rahman.
England left huffing and puffing
What a shellacking this has been. Defending champions have been trumped by a depleted Afghanistan team. Another one-sided, yet the first upset of this tournament. England's defeat would mean that Pakistan, England, and Australia would have the opportunity to sneak into the top 4. The upcoming week will be enthralling for us.
Afghanistan finally won a World Cup Match after 14 Consecutive Losses. Their Solitary win came against Scotland back in the 2015 World Cup.
Afghanistan's innings began with a 100+ partnership between their openers, Gurbaz and Ibrahim until Adil Rashid took the wicket of Ibrahim. Rahmat Shah brought England back into the game, and Gurbaz's 80-run innings came to an end after a wrong call by Captain Shahidi ran him out. Ikram Alikhil, who made his World Cup 2023 debut today in place of Najibullah, scored a brilliant 58, and some quick runs by Rashid (23) and Mujeeb (28) added up to a respectable total of 284 runs.
England's innings began with Bairstow's wicket, as Fazalhaq Farooqi's bowl trapped him in LBW. Afghanistan then introduced their spinners, and Mujeeb got the wicket of Root, while Nabi took the wicket of Malan. Shahidi's trump card brought Naveen back into the attack, and he took the most dangerous wicket of Jos Buttler. Everything went wrong for England as Livingston couldn't survive against Rashid Khan. Despite the batting depth of the England team, they were clueless against the quality spin of Nabi, Rashid, and Mujeeb.
Sam Curran was looking good and making a partnership with Brook, but Nabi took the wicket of Sam Curran, and Mujeeb removed Woakes. Brook stood alone and fought till the end, but he eventually surrendered himself against the wizard Mujeeb ur Rahman. Rashid Khan completed the formalities and took the remaining wickets, and with that, Afghanistan announced their presence in this World Cup by defeating the defending champions and the favorites of the World Cup, the England team.
