Srinagar: A five wicket haul by seamer Sam Currant and solid batting performance helped England to start their campaign in T20 World Cup 2022 on winning note as thet beat Afghanistan by five wickets in Perth on Saturday.
The England bowlers kept the Afghanistan batters under pressure right from the beginning of the match. They restricted the Afghans to less than six runs per over in the powerplay but there was still some hope for Mohammad Nabi’s men as they had wickets in hand. That didn’t matter in the end, though, as Curran bowled a superb spell to bundle them out for 112.
He claimed the wicket of a well-set Ibrahim Zadran in the middle-overs and then came back at the death to pick up four wickets and complete his five-for. The left-arm pacer registered figures of 3.4-0-10-5 in the end.
England got off to a steady start with Alex Hales and Jos Buttler putting on an opening stand of 35 runs. But they suffered a brief scare in the middle as they went on to lose four wickets in the space of just 46 runs. Afghanistan could also sense that they were back in the game.
But Liam Livingstone stepped up and scored an unbeaten 29 from 21 deliveries to guide England home.
This win also gave England a significant boost in their NRR, which stands at +0.620 right now. Afghanistan fought well with the ball but this loss has left them with a NRR of -0.620 and they will need to work really hard to improve it.
Courtesy:ICC
