Afghanistan SHOCK defending champions in World Cup!

Team P W L NRR Points

India 3 3 0 +1.821 6

New Zealand 3 3 0 +1.604 6

South Africa 2 2 0 +2.360 4

Pakistan 3 2 1 -0.137 4

England 3 1 2 -0.084 2

Afghanistan 3 1 2 -0.652 2

Bangladesh 3 1 2 -0.699 2

Sri Lanka 2 0 2 -1.161 0

Netherlands 2 0 2 -1.800 0

Australia 2 0 2 -1.846 0

SCOREBOARD

AFGHANISTAN:

Rahmanullah Gurbaz run out (Buttler) 80

Ibrahim Zadran c Root b Rashid 28

Rahmat Shah st Buttler b Rashid 3

*Hashmatullah Shahidi b Root 14

Azmatullah Omarzai c Woakes b Livingstone 19

Ikram Alikhil c Curran b Topley 58

Mohammad Nabi c Root b Wood 9

Rashid Khan c Root b Rashid 23

Mujeeb Ur Rahman c Root b Wood 28

Naveen-ul-Haq run out (Buttler) 5

Fazalhaq Farooqi not out 2

Extras: 15; Total: 284-10 (49.5)

FOW:Zadran (114-1, 16.4), Rahmat (122-2, 18.4), Gurbaz (122-3, 18.5), Omarzai (152-4, 26), Shahidi (174-5, 32.1), Nabi (190-6, 36.1), Rashid (233-7, 44.1), Alikhil (277-8, 48), Mujeeb (277-9, 48.1), Naveen (284-10, 49.5)

Bowling:

Chris Woakes 4 0 41 0

Reece Topley 8.5 1 52 1

Sam Curran 4 0 46 0

Adil Rashid 10 1 42 3

Mark Wood 9 0 50 2

Liam Livingstone 10 0 33 1

Joe Root 4 0 19 1

ENGLAND:

Jonny Bairstow lbw b Farooqi 2

Dawid Malan c Zadran b Nabi 32

Joe Root b Rahman 11

Harry Brook c Alikhil b Rahman 66

*Jos Buttler b Naveen-ul-Haq 9

Liam Livingstone lbw b Khan 10

Sam Curran c Shah b Nabi 10

Chris Woakes b Rahman 9

Adil Rashid c Nabi b Khan 20

Mark Wood b Khan 18

Reece Topley not out 15

Extras: 13; Total: 215-10 (40.3)

FOW: Bairstow (3-1, 1.1), Root (33-2, 6.5), Malan (68-3, 12.4), Buttler (91-4, 17.2), Livingstone (117-5, 20.4), Curran (138-6, 27.1), Woakes (160-7, 33), Brook (169-8, 34.2), Rashid (198-9, 38.4), Wood (215-10, 40.3)

Bowling:

Mujeeb Ur Rahman 10 1 51 3

Fazalhaq Farooqi 7 0 50 1

Naveen-ul-Haq 6 1 44 1

Mohammad Nabi 6 0 16 2

Rashid Khan 9.3 1 37 3

Azmatullah Omarzai 2 0 13 0

MOM: Mujeeb Ur Rahman

AFGHAN FAIRYTALE:

A World Cup Miracle

NEW DELHI: Afghanistan beat defending champions England by 69 runs in a huge World Cup upset on Sunday, only their second ever win in the tournament.

Afghanistan came into the match having lost 16 of their last 17 World Cup games, their only victory coming against Scotland in 2015.

With healthy amount of support for them in the crowd of 26, 440, Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ikram Alikhil slammed half-centuries in carrying Afghanistan to 284 in 49.5 overs. In defence, Rashid Khan and Mujeeb Ur Rahman took three wickets each in an impressive bowling performance to bowl out England for 215 in 40.5 overs to create one of the biggest upsets in World Cup history.

Earlier, Rahmanullah Gurbaz top-scored for Afghanistan with a 57-ball 80, while his opening partner Ibrahim Zadran contributed 28 in a first-wicket partnership of 114 in 16 overs.

Ikram Alikhil then made 58 off 66 balls, while star leg-spinner Rashid Khan and Mujeeb Ur Rahman chipped in with 23 and 28 respectively as Afghanistan recovered from 190 for six to post a good total on board.

Chasing 285, England were dealt an early blow when Jonny Bairstow was trapped lbw on first ball of Fazalhaq Farooqui, which he reviewed immediately. The replay showed the ball clipping leg-stump on umpire’s call, meaning England retained review, but lost Bairstow.

Though Dawid Malan and Joe Root picked some boundaries, Farooqui continued to bowl probing line and length – like he squared up Malan, hit him on pads (and burnt a review), then beating him. Afghanistan increased pressure on England when Mujeeb Ur Rahman castled Root with a googly that stayed low.

Malan and Harry Brook tried stabilising the chase with strike-rotation and a few boundaries, but Mohammad Nabi took out the former by deceiving him with an outside off-stump delivery which he chipped straight to short extra cover.

Naveen-ul-Haq produced a peach of a delivery – fuller ball coming in from wide outside the off-stump – to castle Jos Buttler through the gate. Rashid Khan entered wicket-takers’ list by trapping Liam Livingstone plumb lbw with a straighter delivery. Livingstone tried to overturn, but it went in vain.

With Brook at the crease and striking boundaries whenever deliveries either wide or overpitched were given to reach his fifty in 35 balls, England held their hopes high. But with boundaries drying up, Nabi struck by using dip, turn and bounce to draw Sam Curran forward and get him edge to slip.

Chris Woakes survived an lbw appeal against Mujeeb, but the spinner finally got his man when he got the googly to go past inside edge and crashed into the off-stump. Mujeeb struck the killer blow by having Brook nick behind a quicker carrom ball to Ikram Alikhil. Rashid had Adil Rashid caught at slip, and despite Reece Topley delaying the inevitable, the leg-spinner castled Mark Wood to send crowd into jubilant frenzy. IANS

Also Read: Bangladesh’s Miraz steals the show vs Afghanistan in their World Cup

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