This is the historic moment for Afghanistan as they make the first ever upset in the 2023 World Cup clinching a huge victory over defending champions England in the 13th game of the tournament in Delhi.
The underdog Afghanistan bowled out England, one of the favourite of the tournament, for 215 runs while defending a challenging total of 284 runs at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Sunday.
In replying to the target, England fell under huge pressure losing four wickets inside the 100 mark as their four batters went back to the pavilion on 91 runs after 17.2 overs. Nothing was changed even then as wickets kept falling at regular intervals.
However, there was only Harry Brook (66 from 61 balls) who stood before the Afghan's strong bowling attack in the middle and made a impressive fifty. No other batters could able to contribute enough to ensure the victory.
Dawid Malan (32) and Adil Rashid (20) added some notable runs but that were not enough to avoid their defeat by 69 runs.
Mujeeb Ur Rahman and Rashid Khan were the picks of the bowlers as both of them bagged three wickets for Afghanistan while Mohammad Nabi got two.
Earlier, Afghanistan managed a challenging total of 284 runs even being bowled out just one ball before ending the full 50 overs.
Being asked to bat, Afghanistan had got off to a flying start with a power-hitting fifty by Rahmanullah Gurbaz. Afghanistan were taking runs at over seven runs per over, eyeing for a big total.
Gurbaz played a 57-ball 80 after and made a 114-run stand with Ibrahim Zadran (28) in the first wicket. Afghanistan then lost their three batters in quick succession.
Since then, Afghanistan kept losing wickets at regular intervals, slowing down the run rate. Ikram Alikhil (58) picked up his third fifty in his ODI career in the middle.
Later, Mujeeb Ur Rahman (28) and Rashid Khan (23) played cameos, taking the team to 284 at the end.
Leg-spinner Adil Rashid bagged the highest three wickets while pacer Mark Wood got two for England. Reece Topely, Liam Livingstone and Joe Root picked up one wicket each.
