First upset of World Cup 2023: Afghanistan defeated defending champion England

First upset of World Cup 2023: Afghanistan defeated defending champion England.

Afghanistan caused the biggest upset of the ODI World Cup 2023. The team registered a historic win over defending champions England, defeating them by 69 runs. After losing 14 consecutive matches in the World Cup, Afghanistan registered victory and defeated the 2019 champion team. Earlier the team had defeated Scotland in 2015.

England won the toss and chose to field at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi. Afghanistan, batting first, scored 284 runs in 49.5 overs. In reply, the England team was all out after scoring 215 runs in 40.3 overs.

Afghanistan's spinners were game-changers. Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Mohammad Nabi, and Rashid Khan together took 8 wickets. Mujeeb and Rashid got 3 wickets each, while Mohammad Nabi took 2 wickets.

 

England became a victim of upset for the 5th time

The England team became the victim of an upset for the 5th time in ODI World Cup history. Earlier in 1992, the team was defeated by Zimbabwe by 9 runs. In 2011, the team was defeated by Ireland by 3 wickets and Bangladesh by 2 wickets. In 2015 also, Bangladesh had caused an upset by defeating England by 15 runs.

Now in 2023, Afghanistan tasted the bitter taste of upset in the World Cup for the 5th time by defeating England by 69 runs. Not only this, the England team has also become a victim of upsets by losing to Netherlands twice in the T-20 World Cup.

Naveen and Farooqui also took 1-1 wicket

Afghanistan's spinners took a total of 8 wickets, but the fast bowlers started the wicket fall. Fazalhaq Farooqui LBWed Jonny Bairstow at the score of 2 runs in his very first over. After him, Naveen-ul-Haq bowled England captain Jos Buttler and pushed the team to the backfoot.

 

None other than Harry Brook walked from England

England had a bad start to chase the target of 285 runs, the team lost 2 wickets in 7 overs. Jonny Bairstow was out after scoring 2 runs and Joe Root after scoring 11 runs. Partnership started forming in the middle overs, but the team kept losing wickets continuously. Dawid Malan 32, Jos Buttler 9, Liam Livingston 10, Sam Curran 10, Chris Woakes 9, Adil Rashid 20, Mark Wood 18 and Reece Topley could score only 15 runs.

 

England lost 2 wickets in the first 10 overs

The Afghanistan team, which came out to defend the target of 285 runs, made a good start. The team sent English opener Jonny Bairstow to the pavilion in the second over itself. Joe Root also got bowled in the 7th over. However, the team scored 52 runs in 10 overs.

 

Ikram scored 58, Mujeeb scored 28 runs.

Afghanistan lost 6 wickets at the score of 190 runs. Hashmatullah Shahidi could score only 14, Azmatullah Omarzai 19 and Mohammad Nabi could score only 9 runs. From here Rashid Khan played an inning of 23 runs, after his dismissal, Mujeeb ur Rahman quickly scored 28 runs in 16 balls. Ikram Alikhil was out after scoring 58 runs and the team's score crossed 275 runs.

Root-Livingston got 1-1 wicket

Leg spinner Adil Rashid from England took maximum 3 wickets. Among fast bowlers, Mark Wood got 2 successes and Reece Topley got one success. Whereas part timers Liam Livingston and Joe Root took one wicket each. Root also took 4 catches in the match.

Century partnership between Gurbaz-Zadran

Afghanistan's first wicket fell at 114 runs. There was a century partnership for the first wicket between Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran. Both added 114 runs on 101 balls. This partnership was broken by Adil Rashid by dismissing Zadran.

Afghanistan scored 79 runs without loss in powerplay.

Batting first, Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran gave a great start to Afghanistan. The team scored 79 runs without any loss in the powerplay.