image source, YEARS
Afghanistan has defeated Pakistan by eight wickets. When Afghanistan won the 22nd match of the World Cup, six balls were still to be bowled.
After England, Afghanistan has created another upset in the World Cup by defeating Pakistan. In the match played on Monday in Chennai, Pakistan won the toss and batted first. The team scored 282 runs for 7 wickets in 50 overs.
In reply, Afghanistan achieved the target of 283 runs by losing two wickets. With this victory, Afghanistan team has come to sixth position in the points table.
After the victory over Pakistan, Afghanistan’s star spinner Rashid Khan said, “It felt like we had won the World Cup. We had played seven matches against Pakistan before this and had never won. But we were confident.”
Ibrahim Zadran scored the highest score of 87 runs for Afghanistan against Pakistan. Jourdan hit 10 excellent fours in this innings.
Rahmat Shah remained unbeaten on 77 and captain Hashmatullah Shahidi remained unbeaten on 48 runs.
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What did the captains of both the teams say after the victory?
Pakistan captain Babar Azam admitted that his team could not play well. He blamed the bowlers for the defeat
Babar Azam said, “Our score was good but our bowling was not good. We could not stop him in the middle overs. We could not stop the runs while Afghanistan was batting. We are not playing good cricket. We will try to correct the mistakes in the next match.”
Afghanistan captain Shahidi gave credit for the victory to the entire team.
Shahidi said, “This victory feels good. Now we are looking towards the next matches.”
“We are playing good cricket. We had confidence in ourselves. We had said that we will make this tournament memorable for our people.”
“Our bowling was good. Especially our spinner Noor bowled well. In batting, Gurbaz and Ibrahim brought the match under our control from the very beginning.”
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What are people saying on social media?
Farid Khan writes on social media platform X – This team should take a flight and return to Pakistan tomorrow itself. And don’t embarrass us, and don’t get us insulted.
The handle @SellTerStegen wrote– This victory is very special for me. Eyes are moist. I spent my childhood in the training camps of Kabul. Life was full of difficulties. Afghanistan has a very special place in my heart.
Vineet writes that Afghanistan defeated England and Pakistan within nine days. This World Cup will always be remembered in Afghanistan cricket. hats off to you.
ihtisham ul haq Has written- Congratulations Afghanistan, first and wonderful win against Pakistan and that too in the World Cup. Cowardly captaincy, Imam putting pressure on his team, not being able to stop runs, lazy fielding and getting the spinner to bowl at the wrong time. Don’t know when Pakistan will come out of all this.
former pakistani Cricketer Danish Kaneria writes “I see on my timeline that every other person is abusing or angry about the performance of the Pakistani team in the World Cup. But if I say anything, I will be called anti-Pakistani.”
Sports journalist Vikrant Gupta writes, “Defeat to India on October 23, 2022, Defeat to Afghanistan on October 23, 2023. Pakistan will never want to remember these dates. “With today’s defeat, every possibility that they had of reaching the semi-finals has ended.”
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Defeated champion England
Earlier, in the match played in Delhi on 15 October, Afghanistan created a tremendous upset by defeating defending champion England by 69 runs. Afghanistan team had won the World Cup after losing 14 consecutive matches.
This was Afghanistan’s first victory over England in ODI cricket.
Then in response to Afghanistan’s target of 285 runs to win, the entire England team was out for 215 runs. The England team could play only 40.3 overs.
That was the 13th match of the World Cup. England won the toss and asked Afghanistan to bat first. Afghanistan team was out after scoring 284 runs in 49.5 overs. For Afghanistan, opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz scored 80 and Ikram scored 58 runs.
In reply, the batsmen of the England team could not perform as per expectations. Harry Brook scored the highest score of 66 runs.
Rashid Khan and Mujeeb Ur Rahman took three wickets each for Afghanistan.
image source, Social media
India’s connection in Afghanistan’s victory
An Indian also contributed to Afghanistan’s resounding victory. This is former cricketer Ajay Jadeja. Ajay Jadeja, who once played for the Indian team, now coaches the players of Afghanistan.
Ajay Jadeja has also played the World Cup. Many cricket fans still remember his brilliant innings played against Pakistan in Bangalore in the 1996 World Cup.
Then Jadeja had hit the balls of Pakistan fast bowler Waqar Younis fiercely.
Ajay Jadeja had scored 45 runs in just 25 balls in that match.
Many cricket experts are giving credit to Ajay Jadeja for the improvement in Afghanistan’s batting.
