England vs Afghanistan Highlights: ICC T20 World Cup 2022 – England win by 5 wickets: Sam Curran’s maiden T20 fifer powered England to a 5-wicket victory over Afghanistan. England dominated with the ball to bowl out the Afghans for paltry 112. However, it wasn’t an easy chase. Despite two dropped catches, England stuttered, managing to only win by 5 wickets, taking the match to 19th over. With the win, England move to 2nd spot in Group 1 Points Table in Super 12. Watch ENG vs AFG Highlights with InsideSport.IN.
Chasing a target of just 112, it wasn’t smooth sailing for England. They did stutter. Jos Buttler did not last long, falling for an 18-ball 18 to Fazalhaq Farooqi. But the Afghans did not have enough on the board to pose any sort of threat to an English line-up that bats deep. Alex Hales, too, got out after making 19 in 20 deliveries but that did not come in the way of a convincing England victory. Afghanistan should also take some responsibility for two dropped catches and sloppy fielding.
England vs Afghanistan Highlights: Sam Curran FIFER powers England to 5-wicket win over Afghanistan, Watch T20 World Cup 2022 Highlights
Ben Stokes (2) was out cheaply too, leaving England at 65 for three in the 11th over. It became 97 for five in the 16th over, when Rashid Khan had Harry Brook (7) caught by Ibrahim Zadran.
In the end, the total was too small to defend with the quality England possess in their batting lineup. It took England 18.2 overs to chase down 113. Liam Livingstone top-scored with 21-ball 29 to take England though.
England vs Afghanistan Highlights: Sam Curran FIFER powers England to 5-wicket win over Afghanistan, Watch T20 World Cup 2022 Highlights
On a lively Optus track that encouraged a good contest between the bat and the ball, Afghanistan managed 35 runs in the powerplay after losing Rahmanullah Gurbaz in the second over.
Declared fit for the game after being hit by Shaheen Afridi during the warm-ups, Gurbaz produced an outrageous shot to pull Chris Woakes over fine-leg for a six. But a quick 146kph Mark Wood delivery cut short his stay in the middle as he edged it to wicketkeeper Jos Buttler.
Wood welcomed Ibrahim Zadran with a 154kph thunderbolt that went past the outside edge after holding its line from just back of a length. However, the next ball was a full toss and it was duly smashed through the covers, easing Zadran’s nerves. After hardly getting the strike, Hazratullah Zazai got into the act by playing Woakes over cover point for a boundary.
Wood kept bowling fast at the other end, but Zadran was equal to the task, flaying a mean short ball from the English pacer over fine leg for a maximum. As Afghanistan entered the middle overs looking to improve the run rate, Liam Livingstone pulled off a blinder running in from the deep, to signal the departure of Zazai after the batter had looked to slash one over third man.
Ben Stokes, who opened the proceedings for England, was the bowler on that occasion. With Afghanistan at 37 for two in seven overs, Sam Curran was introduced into the attack, and Usman Ghani flicked him for four. However, England succeeded in keeping things tight in the middle before Curran returned to dismiss Zadran, thanks to a fine catch by Moeen Ali at the backward point.
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Meanwhile, Stokes was seen grimacing after completing his third over, but it did not look serious. Najibullah Zadran hit Adil Rashid for a six straight down the ground in a 13-run 13th over before Wood came back to check the flow of runs.
Stokes sent back Najibullah, this time it was the turn of Adil Rashid to come up with a brilliant catch as the fielder, stationed at mid-on, he went back and completed an excellent catch after covering a lot of ground. Buttler added his name to the list of phenomenal catches when he grabbed on to the ball after a well-directed short ball by Wood had Mohammed Nabi in all sorts of trouble.
England vs Afghanistan Highlights: Sam Curran FIFER powers England to 5-wicket win over Afghanistan, Watch T20 World Cup 2022 Highlights
England Scorecard:
| Batsmen | R | B | 4S | 6S | SR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jos Buttler (WK/C) | 18 | 18 | 3 | 0 | 100.00 | |
| Alex Hales | 19 | 20 | 0 | 1 | 95.00 | |
| Dawid Malan | 18 | 30 | 0 | 0 | 60.00 | |
| Ben Stokes | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 50.00 | |
| Liam Livingstone | 29 | 21 | 3 | 0 | 138.10 | |
| Harry Brook | 7 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 116.67 | |
| Moeen Ali | 8 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 80.00 | |
| Extra | 12 (b 0, w 12, nb 0, lb 0) | |||||
| Total | 113/5 (18.2) | |||||
| Yet To Bat | Sam Curran, Chris Woakes, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood | |||||
| BOWLING | O | M | R | W | ECON |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fazalhaq Farooqi | 4 | 0 | 24 | 1 | 6.00 |
| Azmatullah Omarzai | 1.1 | 0 | 11 | 0 | 9.43 |
| Mujeeb Ur Rahman | 4 | 0 | 22 | 1 | 5.50 |
| Rashid Khan | 4 | 0 | 17 | 1 | 4.25 |
| Fareed Malik | 2 | 0 | 23 | 1 | 11.50 |
| Mohammad Nabi | 3 | 0 | 16 | 1 | 5.33 |
| Fall Of Wickets | FOW | Over |
|---|---|---|
| Jos Buttler | 1-35 | 4.6 |
| AD Hales | 2-52 | 8.4 |
| Ben Stokes | 3-65 | 10.4 |
| Dawid Malan | 4-81 | 13.5 |
| Harry Brook | 5-97 | 15.2 |
Afghanistan Scorecard:
| Batsmen | R | B | 4S | 6S | SR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hazratullah Zazai | 7 | 17 | 1 | 0 | 41.18 | |
| Rahmanullah Gurbaz (WK) | 10 | 9 | 0 | 1 | 111.11 | |
| Ibrahim Zadran | 32 | 32 | 3 | 1 | 100.00 | |
| Usman Ghani | 30 | 30 | 3 | 0 | 100.00 | |
| Najibullah Zadran | 13 | 11 | 0 | 1 | 118.18 | |
| Mohammad Nabi (C) | 3 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 60.00 | |
| Azmatullah Omarzai | 8 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 133.33 | |
| Rashid Khan | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | |
| Mujeeb Ur Rahman | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | |
| Fareed Malik | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 50.00 | |
| Fazalhaq Farooqi | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | |
| Extra | 7 (b 0, w 3, nb 0, lb 4) | |||||
| Total | 112/10 (19.4) | |||||
| Yet To Bat | ||||||
| BOWLING | O | M | R | W | ECON |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ben Stokes | 4 | 0 | 19 | 2 | 4.75 |
| Chris Woakes | 4 | 0 | 24 | 1 | 6.00 |
| Mark Wood | 4 | 0 | 23 | 2 | 5.75 |
| Sam Curran | 3.4 | 0 | 10 | 5 | 2.73 |
| Adil Rashid | 4 | 0 | 32 | 0 | 8.00 |
| Fall Of Wickets | FOW | Over |
|---|---|---|
| Rahmanullah Gurbaz | 1-11 | 2.1 |
| Hazratullah Zazai | 2-35 | 6.3 |
| Ibrahim Zadran | 3-62 | 11.1 |
| Najibullah Zadran | 4-82 | 14.1 |
| Mohammad Nabi | 5-91 | 15.3 |
| Azmatullah Omarzai | 6-109 | 17.5 |
| Rashid Khan | 7-109 | 17.6 |
| Mujeeb Ur Rahman | 8-110 | 18.2 |
| Usman Ghani | 9-112 | 19.2 |
| Fazalhaq Farooqi | 10-112 | 19.4 |
Afghanistan Playing XI: Hazratullah Zazai, Rahmanullah Gurbaz(w), Ibrahim Zadran, Usman Ghani, Najibullah Zadran, Mohammad Nabi(c), Azmatullah Omarzai, Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Fareed Ahmad Malik, Fazalhaq Farooqi
England Playing XI: Jos Buttler(w/c), Alex Hales, Dawid Malan, Ben Stokes, Harry Brook, Moeen Ali, Liam Livingstone, Sam Curran, Chris Woakes, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood
ICC T20 World Cup Super 12 Group 1 Points Table
| POS | TEAM | PLAYED | WON | LOST | N/R | TIED | NET RR | POINTS |
| 1 | New Zealand | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4.450 | 2 |
| 2 | England | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.620 | 2 |
| 3 | Ireland | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 4 | Sri Lanka | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 5 | Afghanistan | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | -0.620 | 0 |
| 6 | Australia | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | -4.450 | 0 |
England vs Afghanistan Highlights: Sam Curran FIFER powers England to 5-wicket win over Afghanistan, Watch T20 World Cup 2022 Highlights
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