England, who started their campaign against Afghanistan in the T20 World Cup, won today’s first match by 5 wickets. Afghanistan gave him an easy target of 113 runs, which he achieved in the 19th over. The hero of England’s victory was Sam Curran who took 5 wickets for just 10 runs in 3.4 overs. On the basis of his brilliant bowling, the Afghanistan team was bowled out for just 112 runs.
England achieved this challenge with the combined effort of its batsmen. Liam Livingstone scored 29 runs off 21 balls. Karan was adjudged player of the match for his brilliant bowling. It was also his first 5-wicket haul in T20 Internationals.
Before this, England won the toss and decided to field first. On this pitch of fast bowlers, the English ball continued to shock the Afghan team. Afghanistan scored only 35 runs in the powerplay. Although he lost only one wicket but was expected to show something amazing in the remaining overs. But the England bowlers gave him no chance to do so.
Ibrahim Zadran scored 32 runs for Afghanistan. But in this innings of 3 fours and 1 six, he spent only 32 balls. Apart from that, Usman Ghani also scored 30 runs in 30 balls which included 3 fours. Apart from this, only two batsmen of the Afghan team could touch double figures.
Chasing an easy target of 113 runs, captain Jos Buttler (18) and Alex Hales (19) got off to a fast start. He scored 40 runs in the powerplay while losing the only wicket to Buttler. After Alex Hales was dismissed for a total of 52, Afghanistan’s bowlers slowed down England’s run rate and took three wickets but could not prevent England’s victory. If the Afghan team had a few more runs, their bowlers could have turned the match around. The Afghanistan team will now play their next match against New Zealand on Wednesday while England will play their second match against Ireland who reached here after winning the qualifiers.