Afghanistan defeated England by 69 runs in the ICC World Cup match at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Sunday, marking their first win in the ongoing tournament.
Asked to bat first, Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ikram Alikhil slammed half-centuries, carrying Afghanistan to 284 runs in 49.5 overs against England in match 13 of the tournament.
Performance of Afghanistan’s Gurbaz in ICC World Cup match
Afghanistan was cruising on a flat pitch at 111-0 in 16 overs, with Gurbaz being unstoppable in his knock of 80 off 53 balls in the ICC World Cup match. However, Adil Rashid led a vicious spin web to trigger an Afghanistan collapse, taking his best-ever World Cup figures of 3-42.
From 190-6, Alikhil made 58 off 66 balls and was supported by cameos from Rashid Khan and Mujeeb Ur Rahman for Afghanistan to finish with a competitive total.
England failed to chase the total
Chasing the target, England failed to reach the 284-run mark, managing only 215 runs while losing all their wickets against Afghanistan in the 13th ICC World Cup match out of 45 games.
Brief Scores:
Afghanistan: 284 in 49.4 overs (Rahmanullah Gurbaz 80, Ikram Alikhil 58; Adil Rashid 3-42, Mark Wood 2-50)
England: 215 in 40.3 overs (Harry Brook 66, Dawid Maian 32, Adil Rashid 20; Rashid Khan 3-37, Mujeeb Ur Rahman 3-51, Mohammad Nabi 2-16)
Top 4 teams in ICC World Cup points table
Currently, the top four spots on the ICC World Cup points table are occupied by India, New Zealand, South Africa, and Pakistan.
The top four teams on the points table after completion of 45 matches will advance to ICC World Cup semi-finals. The semi-finals are scheduled for November 15 and 16, 2023.
Till now, 13 matches have been played in the tournament.
| Teams | Matches played | Matches won | Mathes lost | Net Run Rate | Points |
| India | 3 | 3 | 0 | +1.821 | 6 |
| New Zealand | 3 | 3 | 0 | +1.604 | 6 |
| South Africa | 2 | 2 | 0 | +2.360 | 4 |
| Pakistan | 3 | 2 | 1 | -0.137 | 4 |
| England | 3 | 1 | 2 | -0.084 | 2 |
| Afghanistan | 3 | 1 | 2 | -0.652 | 2 |
| Bangladesh | 3 | 1 | 2 | -0.699 | 2 |
| Sri Lanka | 2 | 0 | 2 | -1.161 | 0 |
| Netherlands | 2 | 0 | 2 | -1.800 | 0 |
| Australia | 2 | 0 | 2 | -1.846 | 0 |
After England, Afghanistan is going to face New Zealand on October 18.
