Curran Stuns Afghanistan, as England win first WT20 Encounter:
The England captain made the right call at the toss and decided to bowl first. Jos Buttler said, “We just feel like we’d like a chase.
Afghanistan’s captain was satisfied with batting first, as he said at the toss.Rahmatullah Gurbaz and Hazratullah Zazai came to bat, but Gurbaz failed to play Mark Wood’s pace and the first wicket of Afghanistan fell on just 11 runs Afghanistan scored 35 runs in the powerplay. Right after the powerplay, Ben Stokes took the important wicket of Zazai, but the wicket was special as Livingstone caught a blinder. The catch was phenomenal.
Wickets were falling as Afghanistan’s batsmen failed to make a crucial partnership. Afghanistan set a target of 113 runs. Ibrahim Zadran was their top scorer. He scored 32 runs on 32 deliveries.
Sam Curran was the first England cricketer who took a fifer in this format. He conceded just 10 runs in 3.4 overs with an economy of 2.72. He bowled 16 dot deliveries. He has greatly improved his game over the last few years, and his efforts were rewarded today with a fifer in his first game of the World Cup 2022.
England always plays fearless cricket which is fiery and risky. The target was very low and it looked like England was going to chase it easily. But chasing in Australia looks a bit difficult.
One of the most dangerous opening pair came to the crease, but today Jos Butler scored only 18 runs on 18 balls, Fazal Haq Farooqi took his wicket.
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The Afghanistan players put pressure on England and tried their best to make it difficult for England, but they dropped Alex Hales twice. Had they got his wicket early, things might have been different.
Hales, David Malan Ben Stokes and Harry Brook failed to deliver today in batting. Nabi took a beautiful catch of David Malan at cover and Mujeeb got his first wicket. Credit goes to Afghanistan’s bowlers. They did really well, but their batsmen were short of 10 to 15 runs. As this chase was run a ball, England won the match by 5 wickets against Afghanistan Livingstone, who is returning to action after an injury, looked strong today. He scored 29 runs on 21 balls with 3 beautiful fours.
Rashid Khan again played an important role in making things difficult for England. He gave 17 runs in 4 overs and took 1 wicket with an economy of 4.25.For his remarkable feat, Sam Curran was named player of the match.
