England edge out Afghanistan by 15 runs at Delhi’s Feroz Shah Kotla, thanks to Moeen Ali’s 33-ball 41. England captain Eoin Morgan won the toss and elected to bowl first. Morgan’s decision to put inexperienced Afghanistan under the pressure of chasing paid off, as Afghanistan batsmen chipped away wickets easily while trying to scale up the run rate in 143-run chase. England bowlers sent back star batsmen Mohammad Shahzad and captain Asghar Stanikzai back to the pavilion in the first two overs, putting Afghanistan on the back foot. LIVE CRICKET SCORE: England vs Afghanistan , Live Score, 24th T20 Match, Super 10 Group 1, ICC T20 World Cup 2016
England were stunned by some brilliant bowling display by the Afghanistan bowlers in a match that was being seen as a one-sided fixture almost till the score read 42-1. Afghanistan came back into the match in an unbelievable manner to restrict England to 142/7 in 20 overs. However, it was the Afghanistan spinners who turned the tide in their favour. Leggie Rashid Khan and Mohammad Nabi had similar bowling figures of 2 for 17. While Nabi scalped crucial wickets of Morgan and Jos Buttler, Rashid knocked over Ben Stokes and pinch-hitter Chris Jordan. Nonetheless, Ali and Willy came to England’s rescue in the 18th over and plundered 25 runs off it, putting 142 runs on the scoreboard.
Afghanistan never gained control over the chase once they lost their top-order batsmen in the batting Powerplay. Rashid and Nabi tried to make amends but failed to mount pressure on the English bowlers. Ali continued his good form with the ball as well, as he sent power-hitter Rashid back to the dug out.
Samiullah Shenwari along with Shafiqullah Shafiq tried to score runs at a brisk rate but fell short by 15 runs. It’s Afghanistan’s third consecutive loss and are stormed out of the tournament.
If England win against Sri Lanka, they will draw a tie with West Indies and South Africa; and their fate will be decided by the net run-rate. Moreover, if West Indies win against South Africa, England and West Indies will qualify.
Brief scores:
England (Moeen Ali 40, James Vince 22; David Willey 2 for 23, Adil Rashid 2 for 18) beat Afghanistan (Shafiqullah Shafiq 35, Samiullah Shenwari 22; Mohammad Nabi 2 for 17, Rshid Khan 2 for 17) by 15 runs
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