Afghanistan staged the biggest upset in the ICC World Cup 2023 on Sunday as they stunned defending champions England by xx runs at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi to register their first win of the tournament.
England's entire team folded for 215 in 40.3 overs while chasing a par score of 285 on a good batting pitch at the Kotla.
Mujeeb, Rashid & Nabi spin a web around England
It was the trio of Afghan spinners who caused most of the damage with the ball. Mujeeb Ur Rahman bagged three wickets while Rashid Khan and Mohammad Nabi took two each as they spun a web around the English batters.
Harry Brook's 66 and Dawid Malan's 32 were the only two knocks of any significance but the rest all got out for negligible scores.
But the first half of the match was even more dramatic than the second as Afghanistan staged a stunning comeback with the bat after a mini collapse in the middle order after England won the toss and elected to bowl.
Gurbaz and Alikhil's batting heroics
Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran got the team off to a dream start with their opening partnership of 114 but the team then collapsed to 174 for 5 before Ikram Alikhil and Mujeeb's rescue act.
Gurbaz was unfortunately run out for 80 while Alikhil made 58 and Mujeeb contributed with a quickfire 28 to help the team post a par score at the small Delhi ground.
But the score still proved enough as England got outplayed by a team which had lost against Bangladesh and India before this.
End of a 14-match losing streak
The result also brought an end to Afghanistan's streak of 14 successive losses in ODI World Cups. This was also Afghanistan's second win in World Cups after their triumph over Scotland in the 2015 edition.
Mujeeb, who was adjudged Player of the Match for his 3 wickets and 28 runs with the bat, dedicated his award to the victims of the recent Afghanistan earthquakes.
"I want to dedicate this award to the people back home, who have been affected by the earthquake. This is something we could do as a team and I could do myself as a player," Mujeeb said.
The result also pushed five-time champions Australia to last position on the points table as they are yet to open their account after two ODIs. Afghanistan meanwhile, jumped to sixth position with two points from three games.
