Afghanistan vs England, World Cup 2023: Rahmanullah Gurbaz, spinners script an upset for the ages for Afghans

On Sunday, the 2023 ODI Cricket World Cup truly came alive. And for the World Cup to come alive, something had to give. And that something, in this context, was the defending champions England enduring an embarrassing 69-run defeat to Afghanistan at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi.

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For a lot of people who witnessed this game, this defeat for England would have brought back the ghosts of a certain match in the 2011 World Cup, the last time India (co) hosted the ODI showpiece event.

On a fateful night of 2 March, 2011 in Bengaluru, Kevin O’Brien stole the show for Ireland as they saw off a fightback from the England bowlers to chase down 328, with three wickets to spare.

Only this time, there was no such fightback from England batters after they were set a target of 285 by Afghanistan on what was a rather good pitch to bat on.

On the contrary, for Afghanistan, this was a win for the ages.

Zadran-Gurbaz stand sets the platform

Had it not been for a century-run partnership between Afghanistan openers Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran, the match could have gone either way. The duo forged 114 runs for the opening stand and began with so much aggression that at once, it felt as though the Afghans would post a total beyond 300 or even 350.

And remember, this is the same venue where South Africa had posted 428 against Sri Lanka nine days back, so having said that, anything could have been possible.

Gurbaz utilised the first powerplay to the fullest. He took on Chris Woakes and Reece Topley at the start of the innings, before hitting Sam Curran for two fours and a six in the ninth over.

The first four was slammed through the covers by Gurbaz, while for the second one, he clipped through the fine leg gap. More misery followed Sam Curran the very next ball, as Gurbaz clobbered it over the midwicket fence for a maximum.

To put it simply, Gurbaz was batting almost as though this match was a T20I. But, this is not the first time we have seen a 21-year-old steal the show at the major level of any cricket format. Just ask Yashasvi Jaiswal!

Really proud moment beating the defending champions