New Delhi: The ICC ODI World Cup 2023, has turned out to be one of the most unexpected World Cups of all time. The tournament has already seen three upsets so far in the tournament till the halfway point.
The World Cup 2023, just like any other edition of the World Cup, started with the notion that the big fights would be seen between the 6 big nations, while the lower ranked would only work as fodder for the top teams to get some easy points.
But to everyone’s surprise, things have turned out to be very different, as the small teams have emerged as a genuine threat to the big teams, creating upsets and scares in the tournament. So, much so that the defending champions, England, are currently in the second last position in the points table, and teams like Afghanistan have emerged as genuine contenders for the top spots.
Today, let’s take a look at the three upsets in the ICC World Cup 2023, that have changed the landscape of the tournament.
1) Afghanistan stuns the defending champions England (October 15)
Winning moment for Afghanistan vs England at #Cricket #World #Cup#ENGvAFG #CWC2023 pic.twitter.com/PcFsx1sAXD
— Safi E (@SafiEnayat) October 15, 2023
In the 13th match of the tournament, played between Afghanistan and England at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi, everyone expected the defending champions to make easy work of the Afghanistan team, but the latter had some other plans to execute for the night.
English captain Jos Buttler won the toss and opted to bowl first, backing his monstrous batting line-up to chase down the target at the batting-friendly Arun Jaitley Stadium pitch.
Afghanistan started the match on high, with openers Rahmanullah Gurbaz (80) and Ibrahim Zadran (28) adding 114 runs for the first wicket.
England made a comeback and reduced Afghanistan from 114 for 0 to 190 for 6, but Ikram Alikhil (58) with his half-century and Rashid Khan (23) and Mujeeb Ur Rahman (28) with their cameos helped Afghanistan to reach a challenging total of 284 in the first innings.
England stumbled right from the beginning of the chase as they lost Bairstow and Root cheaply, reducing themselves to 33 for 2.
Dawid Malan (32) and Harry Brook (66) put up some fight, but it didn’t prove enough as they got all out of 215 runs, giving Afghanistan their first win of the tournament by 69 runs.
2) Netherlands’ trouble for South Africa (October 17)
Netherlands today:
– First Win in World Cup after 16 years.
– First time win vs A Test playing nation.
– 3rd win in World Cup history.
– Only team to beat SA in this WC.
– They beat SA in both T20 WC & ODI WC.– Netherlands created history in Dharamshala…!!! pic.twitter.com/AQest1xt6C
— CricketMAN2 (@ImTanujSingh) October 17, 2023
South African cricket team, who are running a rampage in the tournament at the moment with their bat and running at full speed towards the top 4 spots, faced a huge hiccup in the form of the Netherlands when they faced the Dutch side in the 15th match of the ICC 2023, at the Himachal Pradesh cricket association ground in Dharamsala.
South African skipper Temba Bavuma won the toss and decided to bowl first in the hope that his bowlers can take early wickets and put pressure on the opposition early in the match.
The Proteas bowlers proved their captain’s decision right and reduced the Dutch innings to 82 for 5. However, the Netherlands’ skipper Scott Edwards was not ready to go down easy and played a fighting knock of 78* in 69 deliveries to take the total to a fighting 245 runs.
Highest scores by Netherlands captains in ODIs
84 Peter Borren vs Ire 2011
83 Scott Edwards vs Zim 2023
78*Scott Edwards vs SA 2023
78 Scott Edwards vs Eng 2022#SAvsNED pic.twitter.com/028087Qn1J— Cric stats (@Goldenduck000) October 17, 2023
The rest of the job was done by the Dutch bowlers, who never let the Proteas free their hand, eventually getting all out on 207, handing the Netherlands a huge 38-run win.
3) Afghanistan wreaks havoc on Pakistan (October 23)
Winning Moments of Afghanistan’s historical win#PAKvsAFG | #PAKvAFG | #CWC2023pic.twitter.com/CAESGY5tT2
— Don Cricket 🏏 (@doncricket_) October 24, 2023
Afghanistan has turned out to be one of the most dangerous teams in the tournament as after beating England, they made easy work of the Pakistan team in the 22nd match of the tournament, proving that their win against England was not a fluke but a result of their hard work.
Pakistani skipper Babar Azam won the toss in the match and opted to bat first to avoid facing the Afghanistan spinners in the second innings on the turning pitch of Chennai.
With the help of half-centuries from opener Abdullah Shafique (58) and Babar Azam (74), along with handy cameos from Shadab Khan (40) and Iftikhar Ahmed (40), Pakistan posted a total of 282 on the board.
The Afghanistan team, who are famous for their bowling, showed how strong their batting lineup is as first the openers Rahmanullah Gurbaz (65) and Ibrahim Zadran (87) set the chase, and finally, Rahmat Shah (77*) and Hasmatullah Sahidi (48*) gave the finishing touch, giving Afghanistan their first ever ODI victory against Pakistan.
