New Delhi: Afghanistan weaved a historic tale on Sunday here by stunning defending champions England with a 69-run win. Chasing 285 appeared to be an easy task for the English team considering England's batting lineup in the second innings. However, Afghan spinners spun a web around the English batters which castled them. Rashid Khan and Mujeeb ur Rehman picked three wickets each to play a key role in the win.
England won the toss and opted to bowl against Afghanistan in their World Cup match here on Sunday. Afghan openers provided their team with a dream start racing to 114 runs from 16.4 overs but they lost wickets in succession after that and that pulled down the projected score which was above 300 earlier. However. Ikram Alikhil came to the rescue late in the innings scoring his fifty and the team amassed 284 runs on the scoreboard as a result.
Adil Rashid was the pick of the bowlers as he scalped three wickets while Mark Wood chipped in with a couple.
Here are the live updates from the game:
- 9.28 pm
A big moment for the Afghanistan cricket team as Rashid dismissed Mark Wood and register a victory over England by 69 runs. - 9.18 pm
Rashid gets rid of Rashid. Rashid Khan's delivery outside off spun a bit and Adil Rashid nudged it in the slips. - 9.15 pm
Wood smacks a four as he plays a late cut and these are valuable runs in the chase. - 9.07 pm
Two boundaries from Adil Rashid and Mark Wood which is a valuable contribution to the team total. England are in deep trouble now. - 9.00 pm
England's last hope, Harry Brook is also dismissed, and looks like England will now have to fight hard to save themselves from being at the wrong end of the result. - 8.51 pm
Chris Woakes' resistance is breached finally by Mujeeb as a googly from him goes through the bat-pad gap and disturbs the stumps. - 8.46 pm
Brook is now steering the innings while Woakes is ensuring no more fall of wickets from the other end. - 8.36 pm
Harry Brook breaks the shackles as he hits a six-over deep fine leg with a brilliant sweep against Mujeeb. Seems like the game is going down the wire now. - 8.23 pm
Nabi takes his second as the ball spun a little bit away from Sam Curran and he pushed at it. However, the batter edged it and Rahmat Shah took an easy catch in slips. - 8.20 pm
Harry Brook has reached his fifty in just 45 balls and the onus to script a successful chase will be on the youngsters' shoulders. - 8.10 pm
Required run rate is not yet an issue of concern for the England batters but the continuous fall of wickets has opened up a possibility of a shock defeat for them. - 7.58 pm
Rashid Khan has bowled a googly and Liam Livingstone went across the line to play a flick but was beaten on the inside edge. He was trapped in front of the wicket and the umpire didn't hesitate in raising his finger quickly to declare the ruling. - 7.53 pm
Just three runs in Rashid's over and the required run rate is rising for the chasing team now. - 7.44 pm
Naveen ul Haq bowled a beauty which nipped back into Jos Buttler and the ball went through the gap between his bat and pad to shatter the stumps. - 7.34 pm
Harry Brook showcases sublime timing with a boundary against Naveen and the duo is now steadying the ship after early shocks. - 7.24 pm
A maiden over from Naveen and the pressure on the English batters is piling up a lot. - 7.16 pm
England's settled batter Dawid Malan departs as he played a Nabi's delivery outside off straight in the hands of a fielder placed inside the 30-yard circle. A soft dismissal and Malan will be irked with the manner in which he has been dismissed. - 7.12 pm
Malan earns two boundaries from Naveen ul Haq's over. One as the edge flew wide of the slip and raced o the fence. While the other delivery was down the leg and the batter got leg-byes - 7.02 pm
Malan is now building his innings slowly and will bank on Harry Brook to support him in forming a partnership. - 6.52 pm
Two early dismissals in the innings will now put pressure on Dawid Malan to take England to a win by scripting a successful chase. - 6.45 pm
Mujeeb ur Rehman has struck with the most prized English scalp to his name. A quicker one breached Joe Root's defence and one of the fab four has no option except to walk back to the dressing room. - 6.40 pm
Dawid Malan plays a elegant cover drive to Farooqi and he is looking to set his eye on the venue. - 6.32 pm
The left-arm seamer is keeping English batters on their toes thanks to the seam moment he is generating from the surface and some swing through the air. - 6.25 pm
Farooqi is getting some swing with the new ball and he is troubling the opposition batters as a result - 6.16 pm
Early breakthrough for Afghanistan as Fazalhaq Farooqi struck with a sharp inswinger and Jonny Bairstow is trapped in the front of the wickets. England opted for DRS but the umpire's call kept the decision intact. - 5.43 pm
Naveen-ul-Haq is somehow trying to steer the scoreboard and he is also got a lucky four in the attempt. However, Afghanistan will be happy that Akram's late hitting has helped them get past the 280-run mark. - 5.36 pm
Two wickets in quick succession and only one wicket left for Afghanistan as Ikram Alikhil and Mujeeb Ur Rahman departed. - 5.30 pm
Ikram blasts a maximum over deep mid-wicket with a slog sweep and he will be looking to accelerate the scoreboard now with only a couple of more overs to go. Also, he has notched his fifty. - 5.20 pm
Afghanistan are 7 down with around 5 overs to go in the innings. Can they push and post something close to 300? - 4.54 pm
Ikram is slowly building his innings and he will be aiming to propel Afghanistan's scoreboard in the slog overs. - 4.44 pm
Mark Wood is now testing the opposition batters with his pace and is attacking them with a barrage of bouncers - 4.34 pm
After spinners' impressed with their bowling, Mark Wood has also stepped up showing the significance of his express pace with a fiery bouncer to Nabi. The searing bouncer from Wood bamboozled the Afghan all-rounder completely and he walked back to the hut after giving a simple catch in the hands of Root. - 4.24 pm
Mohammad Nabi played a brilliant sweep shot over backward square leg for four runs and he will be the last hope for the batting team to take them to a competitive total. - 4.15 pm
Joe Root joined the party too as his good length delivery to Hashmatullah turned a bit and the batter completely missed the line of the ball. The delivery hit the top of the off and one more bites the dust. - 4.05 pm
Joe Root comes in to the attack as England now wants to exploit the spin-friendly conditions, However, Ikram Alikhil took advantage of a short delivery bowled by him and pulled a maximum over deep mid-wicket. - 3.58 pm
Azmatullah tries to clear the fence once again as he hoicks a delivery from Livingstone through the air towards long-off and Woakes grabs an easy catch at boundary rope. Seems like Afghanistan are losing the plot after a commanding start. - 3.52 pm
Azmatullah Omarzai breaks shackles as he reads a slower one from Mark Wood and clears the fence over long-on with a clean strike. - 3.45 pm
Two spinners coming into the spell against two Afghan batters who are new at the crease is working for England as the spinners are causing some trouble for the opposition batters. - 3.38 pm
Liam Livingstone is in the attack and the kind of turn surface offered Adil Rashid must have tempted the England skipper to do so and the English all-rounder conceded only two runs in his first over. - 3.33 pm
Afghanistan batters are walking back to the dressing room one after the other. After playing a superb knock Gurbaz was dismissed in one of the most unfortunate manners as he was caught short of the crease by Willey's throw. - 3.30 pm
Adil's leg-spin coupled with Jos Buttler's quick glovework has culminated in Rahmat Shah's dismissal. The leg-spinner bowled a full delivery to the batter and he was beaten on the outside edge. Also, his back foot was out of the crease and Buttler was quick to dislodge the bails. - 3.26 pm
The dismissal of Zadran hasn't affected Zadran's batting or Afghanistan scoreboard. Rahmat Shah is on the crease and he added seven runs to the scoreboard along with Zadran after a loss of a wicket in the previous over. - 3.18 pm
Much needed a breakthrough for the English side as Ibrahim Zadran tried to clear short mid-wicket fielder in the 30-yard circle but Joe Root timed his jump to perfection to grab the catch on the delivery bowled by Adil Rashid. - 3.10 pm
Adil Rashid bowls a maiden over giving some relief to England by putting brakes for a short span on Afghanistan innings. - 2:55 pm
England have brought Adil Rashid after its pacers faced some punishment from Gurbaz. Afghanistan have registered the highest powerplay total in the WC. 79/0 in 10 overs.
Playing XI
Afghanistan: Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Ibrahim Zadran, Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi (c), Mohammad Nabi, Ikram Alikhil, Azmatullah Omarzai, Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Naveen-ul-Haq, Fazalhaq Farooqi.
England: Jonny Bairstow, Dawid Malan, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Jos Buttler (wk/c), Liam Livingstone, Sam Curran, Chris Woakes, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood, Reece Topley.
