After a string of one-sided games, the World Cup finally came alive when Afghanistan upset champions England, much to the delight of a decent Sunday crowd at the Kotla. Afghanistan asked to bat first, ran up an impressive 284. The target proved beyond England as they lost wickets regularly and till Harry Brooks was at the wicket there was hope. But when he fell to Mujeeb ur Rahman it was the end of the challenge. The historic 69-run victory was Afghanistan’s first in the three ODI encounters between the two teams. Afghanistan had lost both the earlier World Cup matches by huge margins—by nine wickets in Sydney in 2015 and by 150 runs in Manchester in 2019.

Second defeat for England

This was England’s second defeat in the three games in this World Cup and as defending champions will now feel the pressure to make it to the semi-finals. They had lost the inaugural game to New Zealand in Ahmedabad and with some important games coming up, they will have their work cut out. Incidentally, England had lost to Bangladesh in the 2015 World Cup and had failed to make the knockouts. They will have to replan their strategy to avoid a similar fate this time.