Afghanistan defeated England, the reigning champions, by 69 runs on Sunday at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in the nation’s capital, setting off wild celebrations in the dugout.
In their ICC World Cup 2023 match in Delhi, England captain Jos Buttler conceded his team was “outplayed” by Afghanistan. Eight years after beating Scotland in Australia, Afghanistan won their second Cricket World Cup, beating England for 215 runs. The reigning champs were the ones on the receiving end this time. Buttler claimed that Afghanistan was playing at the highest level and that his team did not do well with the bat or the ball.
“It was disappointing to win the toss and let up so many runs; the tone was set by my first ball down the leg side. Afghanistan deserves credit for outperforming us today. When it came down to it, we weren’t nearly using the bat and ball to our full potential.
They have some terrific bowlers, the dew didn’t come in as much as we expected, and the ball held up a little better than we expected. “They bowled dead straight and kept the stumps in play, and we weren’t quite good enough,” Jos Buttler remarked after the game.
However, England captain Joe Root believes his squad has the grit and resilience to recover from their shocking defeat to Afghanistan. He went on to say that England had hoped for more dew to fall on the ground and affect the game, but that did not happen.
“You have to let these defeats sting; there’s no point in getting over things too quickly; we need to reflect.” There’s a lot of character in this squad; we need to show a lot of resilience and come back stronger. “We need guys who can perform under pressure, and that’s something that all of us will be working hard on,” England skipper Gareth Southgate said.
The men of the warrior country defeated the defending champions by 69 runs on Sunday at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in the national capital, causing euphoric celebrations in the Afghan dugout.
Mujeeb Ur Rahman shined with his all-round performance with both bat and ball, scoring 28 off 16 balls and leading his team’s lionhearted bowling effort with three wickets. Rashid Khan took three wickets and Mohammad Nabi two.
Harry Brook led England with 66 runs off 61 balls.
England will play South Africa at Mumbai’s legendary Wankhede Stadium on Saturday.
