Match Day Live with Wasim Jaffer and Urooj Mumtaz
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Victory for Afghanistan!
Afghanistan have rolled England over. They haven't sneaked through, they have dismantled England, particularly with ball in hand. Rahmanullah Gurbaz took the top order bowlers to the cleaners early on before England clawed things back. But a timid batting showing from the defending champions meant the Afghans - the spinners in particular - were all over them, and England were blown out of the chase in the blink of an eye. Afghanistan win by 69 runs, and England have now lost 2 of their first three matches
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Rashid gets Rashid (Part 2)
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A little hope for England?
Probably not, but the last two overs have gone something like this.
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Afghanistan's foot firmly on England's throat now
Mujeeb with a magic over that will see celebrations from Kabul to Kandahar (I hope they're geographically far apart because that's the best Afghan alliteration I can manage). After toying with Chris Woakes all over, including trapping him in front only for him to be thwarted on review, Mujeeb castles him with a googly Woakes is cluelss about. It disturbs timber, and the world champions are on the brink!
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The Afghan squeeze
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Delhi turns up
26000 turn up to watch England vs Afghanistan
"Impressive crowd in at the Arun Jaitley Stadium tonight - perhaps the best atmosphere for a game that hasn't involved India in the tournament to date," Matt says from Delhi. "They have been particularly vocal in their support for Rashid Khan - both with bat and ball - and there are plenty of Afghanistan flags in the stands, perhaps no surprise given the Afghan diaspora here in Delhi. The crowd numbers have undoubtedly been helped by the fact this game is being played on a Sunday evening, but it has been heartening to see so many fans in after some poor turnouts in the first 10 days of this tournament."
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England crashing and burning
It's going from bad to worse for the defending champions. Shortly after Buttler was castled, Livingstone played all around a straight one from Rashid Khan, then burned a review in the vain hope it'd go over the stumps. It wasn't of course, and now England have lost half their side.
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The crowd chant Kohli's name but Naveen silences them - by Matt Roller
A stunning delivery from Naveen-ul-Haq which will make Afghanistan truly believe that this match is there for the taking. He jumped wide on the crease and, with a combination of his beyond-the-perpendicular action and a snap of the wrist, got the ball to shape back in appreciably, through Jos Buttler’s gate and into middle-and-off stump.
Naveen was taunted mercilessly by the Delhi crowd on Wednesday night when he faced Virat Kohli, with the pair involved in an ongoing spat since the IPL. Despite Kohli’s efforts to cool things down, the crowd again chanted Kohli’s name when Naveen walked out to bat tonight, and when he came into the attack. Really, it is Naveen’s name that they should be chanting.
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Joe Root in the first 10
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Are England in real danger here? Matt Roller has his say
England are quickly slipping into crisis mode, three wickets down with Rashid Khan yet to bowl. The balls both appear to have stopped swinging after some early movement for Fazalhaq Farooqi, but Afghanistan’s spinners are in the game, with Joe Root bowled by a quicker ball from Mujeeb Ur Rahman which kept low and Dawid Malan chipping Mohammad Nabi to short cover.
Jos Buttler gets a huge ovation from the Kotla crowd as he walks out at No. 5 and England need one of him or Harry Brook to bat through to at least the 30th over, with more than 200 runs still required. Buttler has a horrible head-to-head record against Rashid in T20 cricket – he has been dismissed four times by him and scored at a strike rate of just 69.44 against him – but will have to negate his threat tonight under the floodlights.
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Brook needs runs
94 runs in Harry Brook's last eight ODI innings
Brook hasn't crossed 25 once during this time, and Afghanistan will know the dangers of letting him get into his groove.
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Root's stumps uprooted
Mujeeb ur Rahman cleans up England's best bat with a flipper. With Root forced backwards, he was in no position to adjust for the ball keeping low
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Fazalhaq Farooqi strikes first ball
Just the start Afghanistan needed. An inswinger came in late and Bairstow loses his balance, trapping him in front. Bairstow believed it had swung too much and sent it upstairs, but it's clipping leg stump. England keep the review, but lose their opener
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Match Day Live with Wasim Jaffer and Urooj Mumtaz
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Spin trio success, but England have work to do - Matt Roller
England will be relieved to have dragged things back from an abject start – Afghanistan were 106 for 0 off 14 overs at drinks, thanks primarily to Rahmanullah Gurbaz – but they have not successfully chased a target this big since July 2021, when a second-string side reeled in 332 against Pakistan.
It was their spinners who did the damage, and Adil Rashid in particular, whose figures of 3 for 42 are his best at a World Cup. Liam Livingstone was also effective, bowling 10 overs for the first time in his ODI career, and in aggregate, England’s spinners took five wickets and conceded 3.91 runs per over.
But their seamers leaked runs, taking 3 wickets and conceding 7.31 runs per over, and they will have particular concerns about Sam Curran and Chris Woakes, whose eight overs cost 87 between them. With Ben Stokes not expected to bowl a ball in this tournament, Curran and Woakes are the pivots in the England side and key to their balance – but have both been exposed on a good batting surface.
Woakes took the new ball and couldn’t find any sort of rhythm, largely bowling wide outside off stump to protect the short leg-side boundary and being driven through the infield. And Curran was smashed at the death, conceding 18 runs in the 46th over as Mujeeb Ur Rahman took him down.
Curran appeared to struggle to grip the ball towards the end of his spell and there has been heavy dew at England’s two training sessions at this venue, suggesting dew could play a role in the run chase. They will be happy if it does, and could use some assistance in their chase after a flat performance with the ball – though Afghanistan’s total is only 12 runs more than they managed on Wednesday night, when they lost with 15 overs unused in India’s chase.
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Ikram's gutsy knock
58 off 66 balls
He's taken a nasty blow to the collarbone from Mark Wood, too, but he's justified his inclusion after coming in at a tricky time for Afghanistan. Falls while going hard at the death, holding out to Sam Curran at long-off off the bowling of Reece Topley
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Adil Rashid's best World Cup figures
42 10-1-42-3 are Rashid's most economical, most productive figures
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Rashid gets Rashid!
Phenomenal catch by Joe Root means there's a third R instrumental to this passage of play, but a punchy little innings from Rashid ends. He tried to smite a Rashid (Khan, that is, keep up!) googly to long on, where Joe Root dived to his right to complete a splendid two-handed grav
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Topley returns, and looks good
Reece Topley looked in significant discomfort after he slid on his knees along the boundary, but he's looked all right since. He's back into the attack, and he's sneaked in a couple of fairly economical overs.
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Ikram takes a whack
Brought in to replace Najibullah Zadran, Ikram's just taken a nasty, nasty blow at 147kph to the collarbone. It's Mark Wood, of course, who do you think it'd be? Required a bit of on-field treatment, but seems okay to continue
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Livingstone, Root through middle overs
With pace bowlers going for plenty early on, Jos Buttler has turned - after Adil Rashid, to other spin options among the England ranks. Joe Root and Liam Livingstone have operated in tandem over the past ten overs or so, and they've kept Afghanistan very quiet during this time, all the while burrowing further into the Afghanistan batting order. Root just cleaned up Shahidi's off stump, and now the pair have combined for figures of 12-0-37-2.
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It's all England now
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Madness from Afghanistan
What on earth is happening here? One ball after Rahmat Shah is stumped, Hashmat and Gurbaz set off for an impossible single within the circle, with Gurbaz running towards the danger end. He puts in a dive but doesn't get close to making it in time. Afghanistan are suddenly three down, having lost their talisman in farcical circumstances.
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Rashid strikes
After an hour or so when they've been put on the backfoot by a relentless Afghan onslaught, it is Adil Rashid who finally strikes, removing Ibrahim Zadran after an innings that never really got going 28 off 48 balls for the opener who definitely played second fiddle, but will this stem the flow of runs, or be a decent wicket for Afghanistan to lose?
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Milestone!
50 off 33 balls for Rahmanullah Gurbaz
He has taken full advantage of the Powerplay, refusing to let any England bowler settle, and given Afghanistan a really strong start
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Gurbaz takes Curran to the cleaners
He came in to replace Woakes but Gurbaz has taken an even stronger liking to Sam Curran
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And it's part of a larger pattern
That Woakes spell lasted three overs. Sam Curran now in
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Woakes coming in for tap
It's been a bright start for Afghanistan, primarily at the expense of Chris Woakes. 31 of the 35 runs they scored in the first five overs came while Woakes was bowling. He began with 5 wides off the game's first ball, and while Reece Topley has kept things quiet at the other end, Gurbaz in particular has enjoyed himself against the right-armer.
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Anthems are done, the action follows
The Afghanistan openers are walking out to bat now.
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Match Day Live with Wasim Jaffer and Urooj Mumtaz
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England win the toss and bowl
Jos Buttler reckons it's a good wicket they'd like to chase on. They'll do it with an unchanged team from the one that beat Bangladesh. "We had a good performance in the last match we'd like to back up today."
Hashmat admits they'd have liked to bowl first. "Above 300 will be a good target." They have one change to their side, with Najibullah Zadram sitting out while Ikram Alikhil comes in.
England: 1 Jonny Bairstow 2 Dawid Malan 3 Joe Root 4 Jos Buttler 5 Harry Brook 6 Liam Livingstone 7 Sam Curran 8 Chris Woakes 9 Adil Rashid 10 Mark Wood 11Reece Topley
Afghanistan: 1Rahmanullah Gurbaz 2 Ibrahim Zadran 3 Rahmat Shah 4Hashmatullah Shahidi 5 Azmatullah Omarzai 6 Mohammad Nabi Ikram Alikhil 8 Rashid Khan 9 Mujeeb ur Rehman 10 Naveen ul Haq 11 Fazal Haq Farooqi
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Hello from Delhi
It's crunch time now for Afghanistan, having lost their first two games. England want to build on a win over Bangladesh after a chastening defeat against New Zealand. Toss coming up shortly.
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