Former England captain Michael Vaughan believes the defending champions can qualify for the semi-finals of the ICC World Cup 2023 despite losing to Afghanistan by 69 runs on Sunday in Delhi.
England were beaten by New Zealand in the opening game of the tournament. They recovered against Bangladesh and registered a win in the second encounter.
However, the latest upset has put their campaign in jeopardy as the team is not looking good across departments, with no information about Ben Stokes' return, who is recovering from a hip injury.
While posting on X (formerly Twitter), the 48-year-old confidently wrote "England in the World Cup semis."
It must be noted that England captain Jos Buttler won the toss and elected to bowl first. Afghanistan reached 284 runs and restricted England to 215.
Buttler’s men struggled badly on the dead and slow pitch and kept on losing wickets at regular intervals while chasing.
Rashid and Mujeeb took three wickets each, Mohammad Nabi got two, while Farooqi and Naveen picked one.
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.
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.
Remember, Afghanistan lost their first two games to Bangladesh and India.
It must be noted that Afghanistan will now face New Zealand on October 18 in Chennai followed by Pakistan on October 23 at the same venue.
