England started with a victory in the T20 world cup beating Afghanistan by 5 wickets. England won the toss and invited Afghanistan to bat first. Putting up a spirited bowling display against Afghanistan, Sam Curran-starrer England bowled out Afghanistan for 112 in the 20-over. Sam Curran became the first England bowler to take a five-wicket haul in the shortest format of the game. England has lost Jos Buttler, Alex Hales and Ben Stokes in the 112-run chase at Perth.
Liam Livingstone remained unbeaten on 29 off 21 balls as England managed to beat Afghanistan in the low-scoring encounter at Perth. Mark Wood and Chris Woakes also bowled with venom and created all sorts of problems for the Afghanistan batters. The match looked done and dusted but Afghanistan showed great character and made England earn every single run. They sent a straightforward message that this team cannot be taken lightly. On any given day Afghanistan score 150+, and they will be tough to beat.
England reaches a target of 113 in 18.1 overs at Optus Stadium. Sam Curran was named the Player of the Match for his bowling heroics.
Now England have a 3-0 lead in T20 World Cup matches against Afghanistan.
“We saw the way the Afghanistan team made it quite tricky, we knew they have world-class spinners in the middle there. Nice to get the first win. Every team can beat anyone. Hopefully we takes today’s confidence into Wednesday’s game and then the big one against Australia on Friday. Hopefully we can play with confidence,” Curran said after the match.
Buttler described England’s fielding as “fantastic”.
He said: Coming into the tournament there’s always a few nerves, there’s a lot of anticipation and nervous energy. Fantastic to get win.
“Fielding is a huge part of this game, some big grounds here. I thought it was a fantastic effort in the field. I enjoyed that (catch) Wood is fun to keep wicket too, delighted to hang on to that. “He is very vital, to have someone who can bowl that express pace.”
Afghanistan’s captain said that his side didn’t score enough runs in the first innings.
Nabi said: “It’s not a good start, but we tried our best to play good cricket. We didn’t put a good total on the board, everyone knows England are the best T20 team in the world.
“The pitch is more suitable for England team, but in the end we didn’t put a good total on the board. They took three good catches, we thought we would score 145, 150 but at the end we didn’t get that.
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
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