T20 World Cup 2022: Afghanistan vs England, Highlights, Player of the Match, Post-Match: Curran pockets fifer

The
Super
12
stage
of
the
marquee
tournament
got
underway
on
Saturday.
While
in
the
first
match,
New
Zealand
handed
Australia
a
89-run
thrashing,
in
the
second
Super
12
game,
Jos
Buttler-led
England
clinched
a
routine
win
over
Mohammad
Nabi-led
Afghanistan.

The
stark
difference
between
the
two
sides
in
their
opening
game
was
their
fielding.
While
England
were
superb
on
the
field,
pulling
off
stunner
after
stunner,
dropped
catches
and
sloppy
fielding
put
Afghanistan
on
the
backfoot.

T20
World
Cup
Special
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After
being
sent
into
bat,
Afghanistan
struggled
to
put
runs
on
the
board
against
a
clinical
England
side.
Jos
Buttler’s
men
put
up
a
stellar
display
on
the
field,
pulling
off
stunning
catches
to
bowl
out
the
Nabi-led
side
or
112
in
19.4
overs.

Sam
Curran
though
stole
the
spotlight
as
he
pocketed
a
fifer.
On
a
day
when
the
Afghanistan
batters
struggled
to
score,
Ibrahim
Zadran
(32)
and
Usman
Ghani
(30)
top-scored
for
the
side.
Though
failing
to
find
the
boundary
ropes,
Afghanistan
did
have
wickets
in
hand,
before
a
massive
collapse.
From
being
90/4
at
one
stage,
Afghanistan
collapsed
like
a
pack
of
cards
as
they
were
bowled
out
for
112.

Currans,
who
was
on
a
hattrick,
failed
to
pick
up
a
wicket
on
his
hattrick
ball.
But
on
the
very
next
delivery
Currans
picked
up
a
wicket,
before
pocketing
his
fifth
wicket
that
saw
England
wipe
up
the
Afghanistan
lower-order.
Currans,
who
turned
in
figures
of
5/10
in
3.4
overs,
became
the
first
England
player
to
pick
up
a
fifer
in
the
T20
World
Cup.

Meanwhile,
Mark
Wood
and
Ben
Stokes
pocketed
two
wickets
each,
while
Chris
Woakes
accounted
for
one
wicket.

In
reply,
England
chased
it
out,
but
it
wasn’t
a
walk
in
the
park
as
one
would
have
expected.
Needing
113
to
win,
England
got
off
to
a
steady
start,
as
opener
Buttler
and
Hales
added
35
off
30
for
the
opening
stand.
Though
the
boundaries
didn’t
flow
effortlessly
and
the
Afghan
bowlers
did
pocket
regular
wickets,
England
chased
down
their
target
with
ease.

Liam
Livingstone
top-scored
for
England
with
an
unbeaten
29
off
21.
Needing
1
from
11
to
win,
the
game
ended
with
a
wide,
as
Buttler,
leading
England
for
the
first
time
in
the
World
Cup,
began
the
tournament
with
a
win.

The
first
day
of
the
Super
12
stage
saw
two
contrasting
games.
While
the
first
match
between
Australia
and
New
Zealand
was
a
high-scoring
affair,
where
the
Kiwis
stunned
the
defending
champions,
the
second
Super
12
game
was
a
low-scoring
affair,
with
Sam
Curran
putting
up
a
stellar
show
in
England’s
routine
win
over
Afghanistan.

Here
are
the
post-match
highlights,
awards,
player
of
the
match,
captain’s
comments
of
the
Afghanistan
vs
England
match:

Player-of-the-Match:
Sam
Curran

Sam
Curran:
We
saw
the
way
Afghanistan
made
it
quite
tricky
in
the
middle.
They
have
world
class
winners.
You’ve
seen
in
the
qualifying
groups,
with
West
Indies
missing
out
that
any
team
can
beat
anyone.
It’s
nice
to
get
the
first
win.
Hopefully
we
can
keep
playing
with
confidence
and
keep
moving
throughout
the
group.
Ireland
will
be
another
tricky
game.
I
was
just
trying
to
be
as
adaptable
as
possible.
Just
trying
to
keep
contributing
to
the
team
and
adapting.
Trying
to
get
better
in
different
phases
of
the
game.
Really
enjoying
my
game
at
the
moment.

Mohammad
Nabi
(AFG),
Losing
Captain:
It’s
not
a
good
start
to
the
tournament,
but
we
tried
our
best
to
play
good
cricket.
With
the
bat,
we
didn’t
put
up
a
good
total.
Everyone
knows
England
is
the
best
T20
team
in
the
world.
In
the
end
we
didn’t
put
up
a
good
total.
There
were
2-3
good
catches.
We
thought
145
would
be
a
good
total.
(Spinners)
This
is
our
plan.
If
we
put
a
good
total,
we
have
quality
spinners
and
good
experience
playing
in
Australia.
(Next
against
NZ)
We
will
learn
from
this
game
and
we
hope
we
improve
our
mistakes
in
the
next
game.

Jos
Buttler
(ENG),
Winning
Captain:
Coming
into
the
tournament
there’s
always
a
few
nerves.
There’s
a
lot
of
anticipation,
to
go
out
and
win
is
fantastic.
(Catches)
Fieldings
a
huge
part
in
this
game
and
the
guys
were
fantastic.
(Own
catch)
Mark
Wood’s
always
fun
to
keep
wickets
to
and
he
likes
to
create
chances
like
that
so
glad
to
hold
onto
that.
He’s
a
great
asset,
he’s
in
a
good
place.
(Sam
Curran)
He’s
thriving
with
the
extra
responsibility,
He
demands
the
ball
in
tough
situations
and
that’s
a
great
attitude
to
have.
We
know
its
a
really
tough
period
o
the
game
to
bowl
in.
Felt
like
the
ball
swung
early,
they
have
a
talented
bowling
attack,
so
it
wasn’t
easy.
We
were
challenged,
and
felt
like
we
had
to
pay
respects
to
the
bowlers.
It
could
have
been
more
fluent.