The biggest nightmares of the big teams in the World Cup came alive when Afghanistan caused the first upset of this edition to defeat the defending champions England by 69 runs in a thrilling encounter at Delhi on Sunday. Afghanistan Openers gave them the dream start with a hundred-run partnership, which was carried on by the tail. In reply, the England batsmen did not have an answer to the Afghan spin trio, who were effectively used by skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi, giving us the first upset of the tournament.
Despite the start provided by the openers Afghanistan’s middle order seemed to lose way in the middle overs, however fine cameos from Ikram Alikhil, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, and Rashid Khan powered them to a strong total of 284. England’s batters looked unsettled by the Afghan bowlers right from the onset, struggling even more once the spinners were introduced. The spin trio of Rashid, Mujeeb, and Nabi bowled consistent lines to bundle out the opponents 69 runs short of the target.
It won’t be wrong to say that Afghanistan dominated the whole match, with initial fireworks being laid out by Rahmanullah Gurbaz who dominated Chris Woakes and got to his 50 off just 33 balls inside the 11th over, while Ibrahim Zadran was playing anchor. England had to toil hard till the 17th wicket, as Ibrahim Zadran fell to Adil Rashid. Rahmat Shah followed soon, as he was caught outside the crease to a flighted delivery by Adil Rashid, and Jos Buttler completed the proceedings.
The very next delivery, a brain fade moment from skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi made his call for a non-existent single that eventually led to their set batsman Gurbaz being run out. Wickets of Omarzai and Shahidi in regular intervals made it seem like Afghanistan was going to suffer from the same fate as their neighbor Pakistan from the previous day. However, a gutsy innings from Ikram Alikhil who was slotted into the side for the match marshalled the tail to punch higher than their weight. Alikhil, who was gifted life by Jos Buttler’s missed stumping chance, scored a valuable 58 off 66 to take his team close to 300.
Blitzkrieg innings from Rashid Khan and Mujeeb Ur Rahman took Afghanistan to a strong total of 284 runs before they were bowled out just shy of the 50-over mark. Adil Rasheed returned an economical and productive spell for England finishing at 3/42 in his 10 overs. England’s seamers leaked runs conceding 7.3 runs per over.
England got the worst start as a late inswinger from Fazalhaq Farooqi caught Jonny Bairstow before the wicket, and to Afghanistan’s good fortune, it was given out on-field with DRS showing the ball barely clipping the leg stump. The pacers kept things tight despite David Malan and Joe Root being offered ample scoring opportunities. The introduction of spin inside the powerplay was the turning point in the match as Mujeeb carried on his heroics with the bat to clean bowl Joe Root. David Malan was beaten off a flighted delivery from Mohammed Nabi soon after.
Skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi did not repeat the mistake from the game against India as he introduced spin from both end knowing that England batsmen are relatively weak against spin. To England’s misfortune, two of their best players of spin in Ben Stokes and Moeen Ali were not in the playing XI. Naveen Ul Haq bowled a peach of an inswinger to Jos Buttler after setting him up with few balls that was swung away from him.
Harry Brook stood steady at one end with his 66 off 61 deliveries, however, Brook gifted Mujib his third wicket with Afghanistan sensing a famous victory at the Kotla. Cameos down the order from Adil Rashid, Mark Wood and Reece Topley only seemed liked could delay the inevitable. Rashid Khan won the “battle of Rashids”, as he dismissed Adil Rasheed and Mark W
We have a lot of confidence about our spinners. Fazal started very well, the first wicket gave us a lot of momentum. When I was batting, I realized the wicket wasn’t supportive for batters against spinners – Hashmatullah Shahidi
During the post match presentation, Hashmatullah Shahidi was pumped up after the win as this is the first victory of Afghanistan against England in ODI WC. Hashmatullah Shahidi pointed out that the openers laid the foundation for the rest of the battting unit. Hashmatullah Shahidi stated that the opening wicket of Jonny Bairstow set the tone for the team.
I’m quite happy, all the teammates are happy. This is the best win for us, the confidence will be there for the next game and I’m very proud. The openers get a lot of credit. They gave us a great start but unfortunately we lost back to back wickets in the middle again, lot of credit to the openers though, especially Gurbaz,” said Hashmatullah Shahidi.
Ikram was with us for the last 2 years and didn’t get a lot of chances, today I believed in him and gave him a chance and he repaid my faith. Mujeeb batted brilliantly, he led from the front and scored important runs for us. We have to score runs, our batting lineup needs to score more for our spinners. We have a lot of confidence about our spinners,” he stated.
“Fazal started very well, the first wicket gave us a lot of momentum. When I was batting, I realized the wicket wasn’t supportive for batters against spinners. I told the boys that 280-290 will be enough when I got back into the dressing room,” he added.
I want to say that the belief, trust and talent is there. Last couple of games we didn’t finish well but the belief is there. This is just the first win, we are looking for more in the tournament. This was just the first one, not the last one,” he concluded.
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