ICC World Cup 2019: Match 24, England vs Afghanistan – Best Memes from the Match

England lived up to the expectations against Afghanistan and managed to register a huge win in the match 24 of the ongoing World Cup. It was rather a no-contest once the hosts posted a mammoth total of 397 runs courtesy a scintillating century from Eoin Morgan. The England skipper slammed 148 runs off just 71 deliveries and hit a record-breaking 17 sixes during his stay in the middle. Rashid Khan was at the receiving end of the assault and even he registered the worst figures for a spinner in ODI cricket.

After opting to bat first, England missed Jason Roy today as James Vince couldn’t make the most of the chance and could only muster 26 runs before getting out to Dawlat Zadran. Joe Root joined hands with Jonny Bairstow as England slowly but surely marched towards a strong total. Bairstow was in the mood to register his first century of this World Cup but Afghanistan skipper Gulbadin Naib didn’t let him get to the milestone.

The opener scored 90 runs and added 120 runs for the second wicket with Root before going back to the dressing room. At 164/2, Afghanistan would’ve hoped to restrict England to a decent total but Eoin Morgan had other ideas. He came out and literally hammered every other bowler of the opposition. He took a special liking to Rashid Khan and took him apart for as many as 11 sixes during his spell.

The leggie went on to concede 110 runs in his nine overs on the day without picking a wicket. Morgan was hitting it cleanly on the day and literally, no bowler could stop him. He went past the world record of most sixes in an ODI inning by Rohit Sharma and Chris Gayle and soon got out to Naib. The damage was done by then though and courtesy Moeen Ali blitz in the last few overs, England went on to post a huge total of 397 runs for the loss of six wickets.

Like Bairstow, even Root missed out on a well-deserved ton while Ali remained unbeaten on 31 off just nine balls. For Afghanistan, Naib and Dawlat shared six wickets equally.

Afghanistan aim to play 50 overs

Afghanistan were never going to get to the total and they aimed at playing the full quota of overs in the chase. Noor Ali Zadran couldn’t handle Jofra Archer’s pace and was castled for a seven-ball duck itself. However, Rahmat Shah and the new opener Gulbadin Naib stitched an interesting partnership. While the latter blunted the leather going after Archer, Rahmat stayed put to his defence and scored at a snail’s pace.

The duo added 48 runs for the second wicket before Naib’s enterprising knock was ended by Mark Wood. Hashmatullah Shahidi walked into the middle then and this time stitched 52 runs with the set batsman. Rahmat looked good to get to the 50-run mark but hit the full toss from Adil Rashid straight to Jonny Bairstow in the deep on 46. Asghar Afghan then took the special liking to Rashid even as Shahidi also opened up especially after being hit on the head by Wood.

The 94-run partnership was the biggest positive for Afghanistan on the day and it was broken by Rashid by nipping out Afghan. Shahidi continued to play his shots then and finally was dismissed on 76. He also got a standing ovation from the English crowd for fighting it out in the middle. Afghanistan seemed to have approached the innings assuming they were batting first and finished on 247 runs for the loss of 8 wickets in the end. They lost the match by a massive margin of 150 runs.

Here are some of the best memes: