World Cup 2023: Afghanistan stun defending champions England, win by 69 runs

It may have taken 10 days but the ODI World Cup in India has its first 'upset' - one that will be cherished by the whole of Afghanistanfor years to come, especially in light of recent devastating events. Afghanistan, playing a near-perfect game, pinned defending champions England on the mat to win the contest by 69runs in front of a vociferous Afghan-supporting crowd gathered at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi.

Fine bowling performances from Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Mohammad Nabi and Rashid Khan ensured that England never really got a whiff of victory, chasing a challenging target of 285. Fazalhaq Farooqi struck first upfront when he trapped Jonny Bairstow in front of the stumps before Mujeeb weaved his magic to send danger man Joe Root (11) back to the hut.

Harry Brook (66), who parachuted into the World Cup squad at the eleventh hour, was the sole man who fought against the Afghan attack but could not make it count as he succumbed under pressure as well. Mujeeb, brought in for a new spell, extracted some turn from the pitch and got the Englishman's outside edge which was snaffled up with utmost glee by Ikram, behind the sticks.

For England, it was a continuation of poor planning, inability to adapt to the wicket and deviating from the strategy that had brought them great success over the last few years. The champions repeated the mistakes of the first match against New Zealand where they played timidly and were made to eat the humble pie.

While most might term it an 'upset', it feels a disservice to Afghanistan to dub their victoryone -for they had been knocking on the door to produce such a performance against one of the top teams for some time. Even India in the previous game had to bring their A-game to get over the line, thoughthe scoreboard might suggest otherwise.

Afghanistan's flying start, collapse and rebuild

Asked to bat first on a rather belter of a Delhi pitch, Afghanistan batters were off the block in a flying manner. Both English opening bowlers, Reece Topley and Chris Woakes failed to hit their mark and were duly punished by the pair of Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran. The former was particularly severe as he manoeuvred the white ball around the turf with a composed yet deadly technique.

Consequently, Afghanistan raced to 79 in the first 10 overs and looked unstoppable for a big score. Things went downhill quite quickly though. Ibrahim Zadran was the first to go and Rahmat Shah didn't last long. Gurbaz, who was looking so good, was tragically run out the very next ball for 80.

The wickets continued to fall as Afghanistan slumped from 114/0 to 190/6 in no time. Adil Rashid, Joe Root and Liam Livingstone - all three English spinners spun a web around the Afghan batters and reaped rich dividends for it. Just when it looked like Afghanistan's innings might come to a tame end, Ikram Alikhil put his hand up and stitched a little partnership with Rashid Khan to take his team to a respectable total of 284, which, in hindsight, proved to be enough.

The defeat leaves England to do some intense soul-searching as the side looks devoid of ideas and aggression on the field - two tenets which dictated their maverick 2019 World Cup campaign.

(With inputs from agencies)

WATCH WION LIVE HERE: