Afghanistan caused a major upset in ODI World Cup 2023 by defeating reigning World Champions, England, by a significant margin of 69 runs on Sunday, October 15. The victory marked Afghanistan's just the second win in ODI World Cup history. The game took place at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi. Afghanistan set a target of 284 runs for England and managed to bowl them out for 215 in 40.3 overs.
Social media influencer Wazhma Ayoubi, expressed her excitement and support for the Afghan team by posting a video. "Afghanistan defeats the current world champions by 69 runs. Congratulations to all of Afghanistan. Finally, we achieve our first World Cup win after a long wait. Well done #AfghanAtalan @ACBofficials. And a big thank you to all our Indian brothers and sisters cheering for Afghanistan today, Dhanyavaad," Wazhma shared on the social media platform ‘X’ (formerly Twitter).
Afghanistan's spinners, including Mujeeb ur Rahman, Rashid Khan, and Mohammad Nabi, were the standout performers as they collectively claimed 8 wickets for 104 runs, derailing England's innings. Mujeeb ur Rahman, in particular, spoke about the significance of this victory, saying, "It is a very proud moment to be here in the World Cup and beating the champions. It’s a great achievement for the whole team, we worked hard for this day. We beat such a big team. It was a wonderful performance from the bowlers and the batters. As a spinner, it’s pretty hard to bowl in the powerplay, you have only two fielders outside. That’s something I’ve been working in the nets."
England's captain, Jos Buttler, expressed his disappointment with the team's performance, especially after winning the toss and choosing to bowl first in Delhi. He admitted, "Disappointing to win the toss and concede that many, me missing that first ball down the leg side set the tone. Credit to Afghanistan, they outplayed us today. It came down to execution, we weren’t quite at the level we’d like to be with both bat and ball. They have some fantastic bowlers, the dew didn’t come in as much as we expected, the ball held up a bit too. They bowled dead straight and kept the stumps in play, we just weren’t quite good enough," as he spoke during the post-match presentation.
This is not the first time the English have been at the receiving end of an embarrassing defeat by a relatively weaker side at the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup. They have faced a defeat against Zimbabwe, Bangladesh, and Ireland in the previous editions of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup.