Afghanistan script first WC fairytale, trounce reigning champs England by 69 runs
In a stunning upset, Afghanistan defeats England by 69 runs in the World Cup. The Afghan spin trio of Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Mohammad Nabi, and Rashid Khan were the stars of the match. This win is a great achievement for Afghanistan and a blow to England's tournament hopes.
It seemed like the most apt of endings. Rashid Khan, Afghanistan cricket’s greatest star, took the final England wicket to seal a 69-run win that will go down as one of the greatest upsets in World Cup history. As the leg-spinner threw up his arms and looked at the heavens, his teammates rushed to join him in a group embrace. This was their night; they knew it. So did England.
The Afghans have almost always put up a fight. But while that has earned them the respect of their opponents, it hasn’t earned them wins. That changed on a balmy Sunday evening at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi. October 15 will live on in their memories (and of those watching) for a long, long time.
In the first major upset of the 2023 World Cup, pre-tournament favourites England crashed to a stunning defeat — dismissed for 215 — on a pitch that had no real devil, by a side that had lost 14 World Cup games on the trot.
The stars of the show were the Afghan spin trio of Mujeeb Ur Rahman (3/51), Mohammad Nabi (2/16) and Rashid Khan (3/37) who teased and tormented the defending champions to help their side earn a famous win.
“Very proud moment to be here at the World Cup and beat the champions,” said Rahman, the player of the match, after the game. “It’s a great achievement for the whole team. This is the kind of opportunity we have been working hard for.”
With an eye on the net run-rate, England put the Afghans in to bat first after winning the toss. The hope would have been to dismiss Hashmatullah Shahidi’s side early and then put on the quick runs. But Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran put on 114 runs for the first wicket to get the Afghan innings off to a quick start.
It seemed like Jos Buttler’s team had managed to get things back on track after reducing Afghanistan to 190/6. But a fine rearguard action, led Ikram Alikhil (58 off 66 balls), helped the team make it to 284 at the end of their 50 overs. It seemed like a fighting total but this was the ground where South Africa scored 428/5 while batting first.
The Afghans had only played England twice before and ended both in heavy defeat.
In their first encounter in 2015, they lost by nine wickets. In their second, by 150 runs, with Eoin Morgan smashing 148 off 71 balls, an innings that featured just 4 fours and 17 sixes.
And given the strength of the England batting line-up, few expected this losing streak to end.
How wrong everyone was... the England batters kept coming in, kept trying to play their shots, but kept heading back to the pavilion, defeated by an astute Afghan bowling lineup.
Jonny Bairstow (2) was dismissed early, Joe Root (11) and Dawid Malan (32) followed him to the pavilion soon enough. Thereafter, only Harry Brook (66 off 61) was able to show some fight, but his efforts were academic. Afghanistan wanted this too much and England, perhaps, too little.
The loss hurts England, who have now lost two of their three games. For Afghanistan, it will be just the pick-me-up they needed. There’s still a lot of cricket to be played in the tournament but for those involved, these memories will be hard to banish and it might serve to motivate them in very different ways.
