New Delhi: Afghanistan has achieved a significant victory by defeating the defending champions and favorites, England, in the most significant match of the World Cup 2023.
The World Cup matches are taking place in the Indian city of New Delhi at the Arun Jaitley Stadium. In this match, the English captain, Jos Buttler, invited Afghanistan to bat.
When Afghanistan started their innings, Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran displayed excellent performance, depriving the English bowlers of wickets in the initial overs. Both players formed a partnership of 114 runs in just 16 overs, especially Rahman’s aggressive style that kept English bowlers at bay. This partnership ended when Adil Rashid claimed Ibrahim Zadran for 28 runs. However, Afghanistan faced a real challenge in the next over when Rahmat Shah, who played his 100th ODI, couldn’t make it memorable and fell after scoring only 3 runs, becoming the second wicket for Adil Rashid. On the very next ball, Rahmanullah Gurbaz attempted a dangerous run but failed to reach the crease, and the English team managed to get a breakthrough.
After losing three wickets at 122 runs, Captain Hashmatullah Shahidi joined Azmatullah Omarzai, and together they pushed the score to 152 runs. However, in an attempt to catch up with the score, Azmatullah was caught easily by Pollock after scoring 80 runs.
In the final overs, Afghan spinners Rashid Khan and Mujeeb Ur Rahman played sensibly alongside Ikram Alikhil, helping Afghanistan reach a total of 284 runs. Ikram scored 58 runs, while Rashid contributed 23 and Mujeeb added 28 runs to the partnership. England’s Adil Rashid took three wickets and proved to be the most successful bowler, while Mark Wood secured two wickets for his side.