An incredible victory! One of the best events in the history of the World Cup?
Afghanistan was a complete surprise. Afghans showed the first 'misincident' of this World Cup. Yesterday Sunday in Delhi they defeated the world champion England by 69 runs, absolutely effortlessly.
In the day-night match at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi, Afghanistan lost the toss and were all out after scoring 284 runs in 49.5 overs. Rahmanullah Gurbaz scored the team's highest 80 runs. Adil Rashid took 3 wickets for 42 runs. In reply, the world champions ended their innings with 215 runs in 40.3 overs. Mujeeb, Rashid and Mohammad Nabi shared 8 of England's 10 wickets.
After Rahmanullah Gurbaz's brilliant innings, Ibrahim Alikhil's fifty and Mujib ur Rahman's last-gasp surprise gave Afghanistan a fighting collection. Then Mujib also showed surprise with the ball. On his way, the Afghans won a historic victory against the world champion England.
History speaks for Afghanistan's first win against England in any format. After losing 14 consecutive matches in the World Cup, the Afghans finally saw victory. This is their second win in 18 matches in the World Cup!
Gurbaz made Afghanistan's innings bigger. Although he missed the hundred when he unfortunately run out. He scored 80 runs off 57 balls. Ikram Alikhil scored 58 off 66 balls in the middle order. Mujeeb ur Rahman made an innings of 28 runs off 16 balls.
Batting in front of a target of 284 runs, England lost Jonny Bairstow (2 runs from 4 balls) at the beginning. David Malan is out for 32 runs. Then the last England middle order collapsed. Jos Buttler (9), Liam Livingstone (10) and Sam Curren (10) quickly returned to the dressing room.
Harry Brooke tried. But no one could give him company. Fazal Haq Farooqui and Naveen Ul Haq put the English under pressure. Mujeeb picked up 3 wickets with 51 runs in 10 overs till the end. Rashid Khan also took 3 wickets. Mohammad Nabi took 2 wickets.
All in all, a victory of the dream!