Afghanistan and England faced off in the 13th match of the ongoing ICC Cricket World Cup 2023. This encounter was played at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi on October 15, 2023.
England was coming off a loss in their first match against New Zealand and a win against Bangladesh in their most recent match in Dharamshala. Afghanistan, on the other hand, had lost both of their first two matches.
England captain Jos Buttler won the toss and chose to field first despite knowing that South Africa posted 428 runs a couple of matches ago at the venue.
Afghanistan posted 284 runs in 49.5 overs, with Rahmanullah Gurbaz being the top-scorer with 80 runs. Ikram Alikhil made 58, while Mujeeb Ur Rahman and Ibrahim Zadran made 28 runs each. Adil Rashid with 3/42 and Mark Wood with 2/50 were the standout bowlers for England.
Afghanistan bowlers had the best pitch which suited their style of bowling. Fazalhaq Farooqi got Jonny Bairstow out LBW in the second over and the wickets continued to tumble at regular intervals.
The rest of the work was done by the Afghan spin trio of Mohammad Nabi (2/16), Rashid Khan (3/37), and Mujeeb Ur Rahman (3/51). Dawid Malan scored 32 and Adil Rashid made 20 runs while Harry Brook played a fighting knock of 66 with 7 fours and 1 six.
But this was not enough as consistent fall of wickets put England in trouble and finally in the 41st over, Rashid Khan dismissed Mark Wood to give Afghanistan their most famous win in international history.
England was bowled out for 215 runs and lost the game by 69 runs. This was Afghanistan's first win over a full-member team in World Cup history. Mujeeb Ur Rahman was named the Player of the Match.
The cricket fraternity was speechless at the performance of the England side and praised the Afghanistan side wholeheartedly.
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