Mujeeb-Ur-Rahman Was Decleared As Man Of The Match For His Allround Performance Which Includes Scoring 28 Runs And Taking 3 Important Wickets
The Afghan team won the match by 69 runs, marking their first win in the tournament since the 2015 World Cup. Notably, this is the second time England has suffered a reversal on Indian soil in 12 years, with Ireland upsetting them in Bangalore during the 2011 World Cup.
Afghanistan has now defeated a Test-playing country for the first time in the World Cup, having previously defeated Scotland in 2015.
In the match, England won the toss and decided to bowl first. The Afghanistan team was all out for 284 runs in 49.5 overs, setting a target of 285 runs for England to chase. However, England’s entire team was dismissed for 215 runs in 40.3 overs.
The English batsmen struggled against Afghanistan’s spin bowlers, with the experienced Rashid Khan and Mujeeb Ur Rahman taking three wickets each.
Additionally, off-spinner Mohammad Nabi claimed two wickets. The trio of Rashid, Mujeeb, and Nabi collectively dismantled England’s batting lineup. Fazalhaq Farooqui and Naveen Ul Haq also contributed with one wicket each.
Batting first, Afghanistan got off to an impressive start credit to openers Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran as the pair managed to score 79 runs without losing a wicket in the powerplay. Afghanistan lost first wicket at the score of 114.
The opening pair, Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran, made a century partnership for the first wicket, scoring 114 runs in 101 balls. This partnership was eventually broken by Adil Rashid, who dismissed Zadran.
Rahmanullah Gurbaz played a brilliant innings scoring 80 runs off just 57 balls. His innings included 8 fours and 4 sixes, and Gurbaz has had a noteworthy career with 3 fifties and 5 centuries to his name.
Afghanistan spin-bowling all-rounder Mujeeb Ur Rahman dedicated his Player of the Match award to the victims of the earthquake that caused havoc in Afghanistan following their historic win against defending champions England at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi.
Speaking at the presentation ceremony Mujeeb-Ur-Rahman said ” Very proud moment to be here in the World Cup and beating the champions. It’s a great achievement for the whole team, we worked hard for this day.
We beat such a big team. It was a wonderful performance from the bowlers and the batters. As a spinner, it’s pretty hard to bowl in the powerplay, you have only two fielders outside. That’s something I’ve been working in the nets.
Bowling with the new ball and trying to be as consistent as possible. That’s something which has made me more effective. I am always trying to bowl stump to stump and keep it simple. We knew that the dew was going to come and play a part in the latter part. That’s why I was telling the captain to bowl me in the powerplay.
We were mentally prepared. (On his batting) It’s all about the management, the players. They give me confidence in the nets. He has always been with me in the nets, my partner.
He wants to hit each and every ball, that’s the area I want to contribute as well. Those 20-25 runs means a lot for the team. This trophy is for the people back home who are affected by the earthquake in Herat. this whole win is for them.
Rashid khan also bowled superbly with bowling figure of 37/3 and scoring 22 with the bat to help Afghanistan team to post a challenging total.After the match while speaking with the broadcasters, Rashid khan also dedicated this historic victory to the Afghanistan’s earthquake victims and said that cricket is the only source of happiness in Afghanistan, recently there was an Earthquake, many lost everything, this will give them some happiness – this is for them”.