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'Nayi Delhi mein bana hai itihaas' - Fans react as Afghanistan upset defending champions England with historic win by 69 runs

Afghanistan completely outplayed the Three Lions in all departments of the game and eventually, emerged victorious by 69 runs to make a historic statement in ODI World Cup 2023.

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Mathew K
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Rashid Khan leads the winning celebration of Afghanistan (File Photo, Twitter)

Rashid Khan leads the winning celebration of Afghanistan (File Photo, Twitter)

Afghanistan stunned the cricketing world with one of the biggest upsets in the history of the ODI World Cup. Hashmatullah Shahidi’s men completely outplayed the defending champions, England registered a historic win by 69 runs in their third match of their ODI World Cup 2023 campaign. Afghanistan completely dominated England in all the departments of the game.

England skipper Jos Buttler won the toss and asked Afghanistan to bat first which proved to be a blunder for the English side. The Afghan openers Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran stitched an amazing 114-run partnership for the first wicket in just 16.4 overs. Gurbaz played a swashbuckling knock of 80 runs off just 57 balls, with 8 fours and 4 sixes.

However, Afghanistan faced a middle-order collapse in the first innings but it was ODI World Cup debutant wicketkeeper-batter Ikram Alikhil played a crucial knock of 58 runs, with 3 fours and 2 sixes to help Afghanistan post a total of 284 runs in 49.5 overs after losing all the wickets.

England batters succumbed to lethal spin attack of Afghanistan 

While chasing the target, the batting lineup of the Three Lions couldn’t sustain strongly against the spin-dominated bowling attack of Afghanistan. The spin trio of Afghanistan, including the likes of Mujeeb ur Rahman, Mohammad Nabi and Rashid Khan scalped a total of 8 wickets in the second innings while defending the target. Mujeeb and Rashid scalped three wickets each, alongside Mohammad Nabi’s 2 wickets.

Apart from the spinners, the pace duo of Naveen-ul-Haq and Fazalhaq Farooqi also claimed two wickets to help Afghanistan bundle out the defending champions on the score of 215 runs in 40.3 overs and win the match by a decent margin of 69 runs.

It is also the first win for Afghanistan in the ongoing ODI World Cup 2023 and that too against the reigning champions, England. Mujeeb ur Rahman won the ‘Player of the Match award for his excellent performance, including 3 wickets with the ball and 28 crucial runs with the bat off just 16 balls in the first innings.

Here’s how fans reacted to the historic win of Afghanistan against England: 

 

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