England was defeated by Afghanistan by 69 runs in the 13th match of the 2023 World Cup on Sunday (October 15) at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi. England is now sixth in the points rankings after suffering their second defeat in three games.
Afghanistan put in a good total of 284 in 49.5 overs after being assigned to bat first in the encounter.
Rahmanullah Gurbaz (80) batted brilliantly to create the groundwork for the Afghan batting line-up. To build on that foundation, Ikram Alikhil (58) hit an important half-century in the lower-middle order. Rashid Khan (23) and Mujeeb Ur Rahman (28) both made brief appearances towards the conclusion.
In response, England took a cautious approach as Afghanistan spinners dominated them with tight lines. Dawid Malan (32) had a start but couldn’t convert it.
The only other hitter to bat was Harry Brook (66), as the rest of the lineup surrendered meekly. Rashid Khan (3/37), Mujeeb Ur Rahman (3/51), and Mohammad Nabi (2/16) of Afghanistan’s spin attack helped their team dismiss England for 215 in 40.3 overs.
Fans on X (previously Twitter) mocked England’s dismal performance against Afghanistan on Sunday. Here are a few of the greatest responses:
“The dew didn’t come in as expected”- England captain Jos Buttler after losing to Afghanistan
Jos Buttler expressed sadness at the loss at the post-match presentation. He remarked on his team’s performance in the game and stated:
“Disappointing, having won the toss and electing to field and me missing the ball down the leg-side early on, tough loss to take and obviously couldn’t set the tone but congratulations to Afghanistan on the win, they outplayed us today. I think, you always think about execution both with the bat and ball, not at the level we wanted to be, consistently enough, that’s the areas we lost the game.”
“The dew didn’t come in as expected and held on the surface with uneven bounce, they put us under lots of pressure and kept always stumps in play and we weren’t quite good enough in the day. As a whole we were not at the level we like to be, in World Cups and against good opposition, guys putting under pressure and that’s where we need to be. Everyone on the field and we will be working on putting that right.”
Jos Buttler
The English will meet high-flying South Africa at Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium on Saturday (October 21).