Afghanistan jumped to the sixth position in the ICC World Cup 2023 points table after creating history as they beat England by 69 runs at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi, India on Sunday.
A big-margin win improved their net run rate (NRR) to an extent and shifted them to the sixth position.
Here is how the points table looks like after Afghanistan’s first win the tournament:
This was Afghanistan's second win in the history of the World Cup as the last time they beat a team in the mega event was in 2015 against Scotland in New Zealand.
This was also the first time the Afghans managed to triumph over England in an ODI match.
The defending champions faced challenges on the tricky Delhi wicket from the starting overs as pacer Fazalhaq Farooqi removed England’s reliable opener, Jonny Bairstow with an inswinger on the first ball of his spell.
They kept on losing wickets at regular intervals and were all out for 215 runs courtesy of a fantastic bowling display by Mujeeb ur Rehman and Rashid Khan as both the spinners took three wickets each.
Harry Brook was the only English batter to hold his ground and play a long innings as the youngster scored 66 off 61 with eight boundaries but he, too, couldn’t do much and lost his wicket to Mujeeb.
Batting first, Rahmanullah Gurbaz provided his side a flying start as they were 75-0 in just the first nine overs.
Gurbaz showcased his brilliant batting skills and played a rapid knock, scoring 80 off just 57 balls which included 12 boundaries, eight fours and four sixes.
The right-handed batter was on his way to complete a well-deserved century but a misunderstanding with his captain Hashmatullah Shahidi got him run out just 20 runs shy of a hundred.
After Gurbaz’s wicket, Afghanistan lost wickets in quick succession but Ikram Akhil’s 58 and valuable knocks by Rashid (23) and Mujeeb (28) powered Shahidi’s men to a fighting 284-run total.
