Hazratullah Zazai perished, courtesy a stunning diving catch from Liam Livingstone.© Twitter
England took control of the proceedings after putting Afghanistan into bat in their T20 World Cup Group 1 clash at the Optus Stadium in Perth on Saturday. Mark Wood provided England with the early breakthrough, as he removed Rahmanullah Gurbaz. Soon after the powerplay, Gurbaz’s opening partner Hazratullah Zazai also perished, courtesy a stunning diving catch from Liam Livingstone. Zazai tried to cut Stokes for six, but could only find Livingstone, who dived at full stretch to pouch the ball at backward point.
Afghanistan were eventually bowled out for a paltry total of 112 in 19.4 overs.
Sam Curran led the way with excellent figures of 5/10 as title contenders England, aided by some incredible catches, bowled out Afghanistan for 112 in a Super 12 Group 1 match.
While left-arm fast-medium bowling all-rounder Curran did the bulk of the damage, England were also helped by as many as three stunning catches after Jos Buttler opted to bowl.
Ibrahim Zadran (32) and Usman Ghani (30) were the two main contributors for Afghanistan.
When England batted, Liam Livingstone (29 off 21 balls) was there till the end to see the team through after they lost five wickets. England won with 11 balls to spare.
Buttler did not last long, falling for an 18-ball 18 to Fazalhaq Farooqi but the Afghans did not have enough on the board to pose any sort of threat to an English line-up that bats deep.
Alex Hales, too, got out after making 19 in 20 deliveries but that did not come in the way of a convincing England victory.
Promoted
Ben Stokes (2) was out cheaply too, leaving England at 65 for three in the 11th over. It became 97 for five in the 16th over, when Rashid Khan had Harry Brook (7) caught by Ibrahim Zadran.
(With PTI Inputs)
Topics mentioned in this article