World champions England started their 2023 ICC World Cup with a loss against New Zealand. They got another loss against Afghanistan. Afghanistan beat England by a huge margin of 69 runs. Their young players performed outside the box and shocked the world champion.

Everyone was expecting an easy victory for the English team, but things went the opposite as Afghanistan broke all the analysis and expectations, stunned the opposition, and broke their confidence. They showed a great winning attitude against England, even after going through some tough phases in the match.

Solid batting from Afghanistan's young batters


In the 13th game of the ICC World Cup 2023, Afghanistan's youthful hitters Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ikram Alikhil help their team put up a fighting total for world champions England. Ikram Alikhil's amazing half century and the 80 runs Rahmanullah Gurbaz hit in just 57 balls helped the team.

Afghanistan batted first on the Arun Jaitley Stadium's batting surface, and both of its openers got off to a great start. In the very beginning of the inning, they targeted the England bowlers. The slick right-handed wicketkeeper, who appeared to be in fine form, attacked England's opening bowlers immediately.

Although Ibrahim Zadran played slowly and appeared a little rusty, he built a lovely partnership with his partner to give Afghanistan a big advantage. They combined for the first wicket in a 114-run partnership. Through the collaboration, Gurbaz was the aggressor.

Joe Root caught Ibrahim Zadran at short midwicket, and Rahmat Shah could only muster three runs before being stumped by Jos Buttler. Despite losing two wickets in quick succession, Afghanistan was still in a decent position at the time.

Hashmatullah Shahidi, their captain, played a ball for a single, but Rahmanullah Gurbaz failed to cover the entire ground with a dive and was run out, missing his first century at the ICC World Cup 2023. He scored an outstanding 80 runs in just 57 balls with a strike rate above 140.

From that point on, Afghanistan had difficulties since they lost a few wickets early and were unable to build on the start the openers had given them. They required a strong finish, which they received from Ikram Alikhil, a different young batsman who played extremely shrewd cricket. On 66 balls, he scored 58 runs and smashed two long sixes.

Rashid Khan and Mujeeb Ur Rahman both provided 51 runs at the conclusion of the inning to help their team reach a necessary total against England's fearsome hitting lineup.

Afghanistan's bowling brilliance against England


While chasing a huge target, Afghan bowlers hardly gave English batters a chance to find their shorts and form a partnership. Their bowlers just went through strong batting by England; chasing batters could not give the answer of spin bowling by Afghanistan, and Mujeeb was picked as player of the match for his brilliant performance.