Afghanistan Defeats England In The First Upset Of The World Cup 2023

(CTN News) – It was a major upset for Afghanistan to be able to record the first major upset of the ongoing World Cup 2023 at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi, India, as they defeated “mighty” England by 69 runs.

In the 41st over, England were bowled out for 215 with Afghanistan securing a historic 69-run victory over the defending champions despite having set a target of 285 to chase.

As a result of today’s win, Afghanistan has become the first team to win in one-day internationals (ODIs) against England and they have now won two World Cups in a row.

As England batted second on the tricky Delhi pitch, the defending champions were forced to deal with challenges from the start as pacer Fazal Farooqi removed England’s reliable opener, Jonny Bairstow with an inswinger on the first ball of his spell on the Delhi wicket.

The England captain looked in good touch when he arrived at the crease, but Mujeeb Ur Rahman’s peach of a delivery sent him back to the pavilion for just eleven runs.

Having stepped on the pitch with his bat, England skipper Jos Buttler struggled from the minute he stepped on the field and was dismissed for just nine runs thanks to a magnificent delivery from Naveen-ul-Haq.

It was only Harry Brook who held his ground and played a long innings during the game, scoring 66 off 61 with eight boundaries while playing a long innings, but he, too, was unable to do much and lost his wicket to Mujeeb Ur Rahman.

As a result, Buttler’s team struggled badly on the dead and slow pitch and lost wickets at regular intervals throughout the match. In fact, all of their batters were out for 215 runs as a result.

As a team, Rasha and Mujeeb took three wickets each, Mohammad Nabi took two wickets, while Farooqi and Naveen each took one wicket.

With Rahmanullah Gurbaz opening the batting, the side was 75-0 in just nine overs after Rahmanullah Gurbaz led his side to an impressive start.

In just 57 balls Gurbaz played a brilliant batting display, scoring 80 runs, including 12 boundaries, eight fours, and four sixes, as he demonstrated his excellent batting skills.

An misunderstanding with his captain led to Hashmatullah Shahidi being run out just 20 runs short of completing a well-deserved century.

In the aftermath of Gurbaz’s dismissal, Afghanistan lost wickets in quick succession, but Ikram Ali Khil’s 58 and important knocks by Rashid (23) and Mujeeb (28), respectively, allowed Afghanistan to reach a respectable 284 runs.

Mark Wood, utilizing his sheer pace, took two wickets for 42 runs while Adil Rashid took three wickets for 42 runs.

Buttler has been struggling lately as his team has only won one match in three matches and they face South Africa on October 21 in Mumbai. Furthermore, Afghanistan will play a top team, New Zealand, on October 18 in Chennai, a spinning wicket where Shahidi’s men can take advantage of their world-class spin.

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