Afghanistan provide 2023 World Cup its first biggest upset

Afghanistan players celebrate the wicket of England skipper Jos Buttler at New Delhi yesterday. Pics/Getty Images, AFP

After a string of one-sided games, the World Cup finally came alive when Afghanistan upset champions England, much to the delight of a decent Sunday crowd at the Kotla. Afghanistan asked to bat first, ran up an impressive 284. The target proved beyond England as they lost wickets regularly and till Harry Brooks was at the wicket there was hope. But when he fell to Mujeeb ur Rahman it was the end of the challenge. The historic 69-run victory was Afghanistan's first in the three ODI encounters between the two teams. Afghanistan had lost both the earlier World Cup matches by huge margins - by nine wickets in Sydney in 2015 and by 150 runs in Manchester in 2019.

Second defeat for England

This was England's second defeat in the three games in this World Cup and as defending champions will now feel the pressure to make it to the semi-finals. They had lost the inaugural game to New Zealand in Ahmedabad and with some important games coming up, they will have their work cut out. Incidentally, England had lost to Bangladesh in the 2015 World Cup and had failed to make the knockouts. They will have to replan their strategy to avoid a similar fate this time.

Rahmanullah Gurbaz during his 57-ball 80 yesterday

It was a surprising decision by the England skipper to chase a target rather than to set one. The pitch here has seen high first-innings scores, but apparently, Buttler was influenced by India's performance in the previous game here when the hosts had chased down a similar target in just 35 overs. But this time, the Afghanistan bowling was much more effective, especially as dew was absent till quite late in the match. The Indian skipper Rohit Sharma had teed off from ball one to set up the victory against Afghanistan. England on the other hand, lost Jonny Bairstow and Joe Root cheaply. That put the pressure on the subsequent batters and with spinners Mujeeb (3-51), Rashid Khan (3-37) and Mohammed Nabi (2-16) having a stranglehold on the batters, the upset became a reality. Afghanistan knew that there was no other way to tame the free-scoring England batters but to go for the jugular and their plan worked as England were bundled out for 215.

Also Read: Cricket World Cup: Where fandom comes with a ‘hefty price tag'!

Gurbaz starts with a bang

The mainstay of the Afghanistan innings was opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz, who struck a superb 80 from just 57 balls with eight fours and four sixes. He looked well set for a century but was run out in a mix-up with his skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi. His departure also cost Afghanistan valuable runs and could well have touched the 300-run mark. The total was propped up by Ikram Ali Khil, who played some excellent strokes at the backend of the innings and it was his 58 from 66 balls with three fours and two sixes that helped Afghanistan post a challenging total. The England bowlers proved expensive, with only leg-spinner Adil Rashid looking impressive with 3-42. It was his performance that indicated if Afghanistan could pick up early wickets, they could surprise the mighty England team.

Brief scores
Afghanistan 284 all out in 49.5 overs (R Gurbaz 80, I Alikhil 58; A Rashid 3-42, M Wood 2-50) beat England 215 all out in 40.3 overs (H Brook 66, D Malan 32; R Khan 3-37, M Rahman 3-51, M Nabi 2-16) by 69 runs