'Just one in 8 attempts': Sehwag gives EPIC reply to Vaughan's 'England in World Cup semis' remark

England are not off to a great start in the ODI World Cup 2023 edition, being held in India. The Jos Buttler-led defending champions lost to Afghanistan in match 13 on Sunday (Oct 15) at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, New Delhi and have now conceded two out of their three games so far.

Opting to bowl first, England bowlers weren't on the money as Afghanistan rode on opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz's 80andIkram Alikhil's 58 and cameos from Rashid Khan and Mujeeb Ur Rahman to post a challenging 284 in 49.5 overs. In reply, England were bundled out for215 in 40.3 overs as the Asian side pulled off a huge upset. Despite the shocking loss, former England captain Michael Vaughan remains optimistic of his national sidereaching the semi-finals in the ongoing edition.

Taking to X, formerly known as Twitter, Vaughan issued a bold claim and said, "England in the World Cup semis." Reacting to Vaughan's viral post on the microblogging site, formerIndian opener Virender Sehwag reminded the Englishman of his national team's forgettable record in 50-over World Cups, where they have not made it to the semis in 1996, 1999, 2003, 2007, 2011, 2015 and also added 2023.

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“Not in 1996, 1999, 2003, 2007, 2011, 2015 and 2023. Just one in 8 attempts,” Sehwag trolled Vaughan on X.

Earlier, Sehwag had mentioned that England and Australia, five-time winners, might be make it to the last four. "Looks like Eng and Aus are going to struggle to reach the top 4. #ENGvsAFG," Sehwag had stated. Pat Cummins-led Australia are yet to get off the mark in the ten-team tournament with two heavy defeats on the trot.

'You got to let these defeats hurt,no point in getting over things too quickly'

After the Afghanistan defeat, Buttler said at the post-match presentation, "Disappointing to win the toss and concede that many, me missing that first ball down the leg side set the tone. Credit to Afghanistan, they outplayed us today. It came down to execution, we weren’t quite at the level we’d like to be with both bat and ball. They have some fantastic bowlers, the dew didn’t come in as much as we expected, the ball held up a bit too. They bowled dead straight and kept the stumps in play, we just weren’t quite good enough. You got to let these defeats hurt, there’s no point in getting over things too quickly, we need to reflect. There’s a lot of character in this group, we need to show a lot of resilience and come back stronger. We need to have guys being able to perform under pressure and that’s what all of us will be working hard towards."

England will now lock horns with South Africa, who have two wins from equal number of games, in match 20 on Saturday (Oct 21) at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.

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