New Delhi: It was Afghanistan’s version of “bazball” on display as they decimated England for their only second win in the ICC World Cup at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in the capital on Sunday. With a 69-run victory over England, Afghanistan opened their account and jumped to sixth spot with two points while England were static at fifth position on the points table.
Man of the match Mujeeb Ur Rahman (3/51) and Rashid Khan (3/37) wreaked havoc while Mohammad Nabi picked up two wickets to leave much-higher ranked and experienced England red-faced.
Harry Brook top scored with 66 as Three Lions were restricted to 215 in 40.3 overs in reply to Afghanistan’s 284, which was built on a swashbuckling 80 off 57 balls by Rahmanullah Gurbaz. The opener crashed eight boundaries and four sixes to provide the perfect start for Afghanistan.
Earlier, Gurbaz completed his 50 in just 33 balls embedded with 7 fours and two sixes. Chris Woakes opened the bowling for England before Reece Topley was introduced, the hero of their match against Bangladesh in Dharamshala, but England failed to taste any success in snapping up the wicket. Even experienced Sam Curran failed to halt the run flow as Afghanistan reached 100 in 13 overs.
Gurbaz’s opening partnership with Ibrahim Zadran (28 off 48 balls, 3x4) was going strong as they stitched 114 together in 16.4 overs for the first-wicket stand before the latter got caught by Joe Root off Adil Rashid’s delivery. Thereafter, England succeeded in wrecking the Afghanistan line-up as they grabbed another two wickets very quickly.
Rahmat Shah stumped by Jos Buttler off Rashid before Gurbaz got run out in the next ball while he literally dived to cross the line but fell short before the ball reached the stumps. Rashid was pick of the bowlers with 3/42 in his 10 overs spell.
With Gurbaz’s departure Afghanistan’s run rate started plummeting. Azmatullah Omarzai (19 off 24 balls, 4x1, 6x1) was next to caught behind while trying to go over the boundary by Woakes off Liam Livingstone delivery before captain Hashmatullah Shahidi (14 off 36 balls) was cleaned by Root in 32.1 overs.
Ikram Ali (58 off 66 balls, 3x4, 2x6) came as a bright spot for Afghans and swelled the total to 277/8 in 47.2 overs. He reached his half-century in 61 balls before being caught by Sam Curran. Mohammad Nabi got caught by Root at a deep-set gully as Wood delivered a high ball in the 37th over.
Rashid Khan too was caught by Root, who took the fourth catch of the match off Mujeeb ur Rahman.
