England avoided an upset against Afghanistan after they managed to seal a 15-run victory during a Group 1 fixture of the ICC T20 World Cup 2016 clash at the Feroz Shah Kotla, in Delhi on 23 March.
Advertisement
England captain Eoin Morgan, out for a first-ball duck which he attributed to an error in judgement, also identified the late order blitz to be the reason for their win.
“The execution of our plans were a long way off and it is very important between now and the Sri Lanka game that we emphasise what we’re trying to do here”, said Morgan.
The 2010 champions’ under-fire bowlers and fielders will be up against a potent if not marauding Afghanistan batting line-up that gave Australia a scare in their last match.
And some big hits in the last few overs – Willey smacking two big sixes – made the total much more respectable than it promised to be half an hour earlier. The penultimate over yielded 25 runs as Amir Hamza took a battering. “And I though we fielded well and bowled well”.
“We were very disappointed with the way that we batted”.
“We planned to play simple cricket and see what happened”, Rashid said.
Afghanistan’s slow bowlers got down to business right away on a hot and sunny afternoon in the Indian capital to reduce England to 85 for seven.
England’s Ben Stokes (C) celebrates the fall of an Afghanistan wicket.
But veteran off-spinner Mohammad Nabi’s introduction reaped immediate rewards.
The rot didn’t stop there – Jos Buttler (seven) was brilliantly caught by Nabi, diving forward at short extra cover, off Samiullah Shenwari before Stokes (seven) dragged a googly from 17-year-old leg-spinner Rashid Khan (2-17) onto his stumps, falling on to his backside in the process.
England’s two-over score that night of 44 was a record for a Twenty20 global, and Hales played his part by hitting the first three balls of Dale Steyn’s first over for leg-side fours.
Afghanistan will look to get their first points on the board so that they can bring the confidence of their players back and perform well in this tournament so that they can keep the hopes of qualifying for the semi-final alive.
Indian legends Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid are among those who have expressed their admiration for the exploits of a team which has to play all its matches overseas because of the security situation back home.
In reply, Afghanistan stuttered to 13 for 3 after three overs, which included the dismissal of their star batsman Mohammad Shahzad, for 4.
Advertisement
The innings were dented further after Adil Rashid (2-18) held a simple return catch to dismiss Noor Ali Zadran (17) in the ninth over leaving Afghanistan reeling at 39 for five.
