WATCH: Sam Curran angrily pushes away camera after Rahmanullah Gurbaz’s onslaught in ENG vs AFG 2023 ODI World Cup

England were on the back foot at the start after opting to field first in the ongoing match against Afghanistan at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi. However, things turned around quickly after the first powerplay as Afghanistan suffered a minor collapse. England were the happier side going into the second half, but the Afghans would not be disappointed with their brilliant comeback at the end.

The English bowlers were taken to the cleaners by Rahmanullah Gurbaz with some serious hitting from the word go. The flamboyant opener’s aggressive knock helped Afghanistan to reach 45 inside the first six overs. Ibrahim Sadran was enjoying Gurbaz’s attack from the other side but the partnership kept on building.

It was left-arm pacer Sam Curran who bore the brunt of Gurbaz’s ruthless hitting. After conceding just six runs in his first over, captain Jos Buttler continued Sam in the attack. However, this time Gurbaz did not show any mercy to the all-rounder and smashed him all around the park. Both the openers deal with singles off the first three deliveries of Curran’s 9th over. But in the next three balls, Gurbaz slammed four, four and six to score a total of 20 runs in one over.

Curran went back to fielding on the boundary line and his frustration was clearly visible as the cameraman tried to get a close-up of him. On the third ball of the 10th over, the cameraman focused on him, but the 25-year-old angrily pushed the camera away.

Watch the video below: 

Hashmatullah Shahidi’s suicidal call for a single ends Gurbaz’s spectacular show

Gurbaz brought up the fourth-fastest half-century of the ongoing World Cup (33 balls) in the 10th over. The opening pair looked set to build a big partnership but Adil Rashid broke the dangerous 114 stand in the 17th over. He got the wicket of Zadran (28 off 48 balls).

Two overs later, the right-arm spinner removed Rahmat Shah as well. England took control as Gurbaz got out in the form of a run-out in the very next ball. It was a suicidal call from the Afghan skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi, but the opening batter had to pay the price for it. A well-deserved century was on the cards for Gurbaz, but he fell short by 20 runs.

Afghanistan suffered a mini-collapse in the middle phase but made a brilliant comeback to post a target of 285 runs. Ikram Alikhil’s brilliant half-century and Rashid Khan and Mujeeb Ur Rahman‘s effective cameos were crucial for them.