A flying start, a shattering collapse and a brilliant comeback - that's Afghanistan's innings summed up in one sentence for you. They were asked to bat first and got off to a dream start. Woakes and Topley failed to hit their mark early and were quite loose. Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran pounced on the opportunity and made the most of the surface along with what was offered to them. Afghanistan raced on to 79 in the first 10 overs and Gurbaz in particular looked unstoppable. Things went downhill quite quickly though. Ibrahim Zadran was the first to go and Rahmat Shah didn't last long. Gurbaz, who was looking so good, was tragically run-out the very next ball for 80. The wickets didn't stop there and Afghanistan went from 114/0 to 190/6. England's spinners were brilliant, Rashid started things off for England and their part-timers, Livingstone and Root, bowled exceptionally too. It was Ikram Alikhil that batted with a lot of poise though and he kept them in the game. Handful cameos from Rashid Khan and Mujeeb complemented Alikhil's fifty and Afghanistan eventually ended up with quite a respectable 284. Will that be enough against England on what looked like a belter? We'll have to wait and see.
thats sad SK. thats why i do it 1 hr before I go to sleep. 
Farooqi took 1st wicket of England at 1.1 over 
though ikram and rashid/mujeeb tried to do some damage control later.
Anupamaa
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