Sports Desk: Afghanistan beat England by 69 runs to produce the biggest World Cup upset.
This is Afghanistan’s only second win in the history of ODI World Cups.
Afghanistan’s spinners stifled England’s batters and took regular wickets.
Afghanistan punched above their weight and stunned defending champions England by 69 runs in a lop-sided ODI World Cup match at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi on Sunday. After posting their second-highest World Cup total of 284 runs, Afghanistan spinners stifled the England batters and picked up wickets at regular intervals to stop their fancied rivals at 215-all out.
Rashid Khan picked up three wickets while Mohammad Nabi and Mujeeb Ur Rahman took two wickets each to help Afghanistan register their second win in the history of the ODI World Cups.
England had a shaky start, as Fazalhaq Farooqi got Jonny Bairstow out lbw, and Mujeeb dismissed Root with a low and quick delivery that crashed into the stumps. The only batter who managed to adapt to the challenging conditions was Harry Brook, who fought valiantly and scored 66 runs.
Earlier, Afghanistan were dismissed for 284 in their World Cup group game against England on Sunday, after opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz’s blistering knock of 80 and a half-century at the death from Ikram Alikhil helped them post a fighting total. After being put into bat after England won the toss, Afghanistan got off to a flying start with a 114-run opening stand between Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran, who scored at eight runs per over in the first powerplay.
