Watch: Mujeeb Ur Rahman castles inform Joe Root in ENG vs AFG clash in Delhi

Afghanistan spinner Mujeeb Ur Rahman dismissed Joe Root for 11 runs.

Afghanistan have got off to a decent start against England after picking up two early wickets. Afghanistan have given a target of 285 runs to the defending champions England at Arun Jaitley Cricket Stadium in Delhi. Afghanistan have picked up dangerous Jonny Bairstow and Joe Root early in the innings. Afghanistan bowlers have not given English batters any chance to open their arms and play regular counter-attacking cricket in Delhi. 

Mujeeb castles Joe Root

Afghanistan opened the bowling with off-spinner Mujeeb Ur Rahman and this strategy paid off brilliantly for them. Mujeeb Ur Rahman got England’s mainstay in the middle-order Joe Root clean bowled. Root was completely out of place in tackling Mujeeb’s spin and lost his wicket for just 11 runs. Root went on the back foot to play a defensive shot against Mujeeb but ended up playing in the wrong line. The ball went past Root after taking an inside edge and crashed onto the stumps. 

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Mujeeb Ur Rahman bowled a magnificent opening spell and conceded only 27 runs against a power-packed England batting lineup. Dawid Malan, Joe Root, Harry Brook, and Jonny Bairstow all had their struggle against a spirited Afghanistan bowling attack. Along with Mujeeb Ur Rahman, all-rounder Mohammad Nabi also got opener Dawid Malan caught by Ibrahim Zadran to give England their 3rd blow inside 15 overs. Afghanistan are yet to introduce their X-factor spinner Rashid Khan into the attack. 

England lost early wickets

Along with the two spinners, Fazalhaq Farooqi also picked up a wicket to put England under pressure with the new ball. Farooqi got Jonny Bairstow out in his first over to provide a start they needed to defend a challenging 284 total on a small ground. Bristow got out LBW while playing across against the Afghan left-arm pacer. This wicket was important as Bairstow would have looked to go aggressive from the ball one against Afghanistan bowlers.

Batting first, Afghanistan posted 284 in their 50 overs. Opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz (80) and Ikram Alikhil (58) played magnificent knocks to put Afghanistan in a challenging position against the defending champions. Afghanistan have won only one game in the World Cup tournament after making their debut. Afghanistan defeated Scotland by 1 wicket in World Cup 2015, after that they have not won any game in the tournament's history.