England looks to continue winning run against Afghanistan

NEW DELHI: Its campaign back on track after the humiliating loss in the opener, title holder England would look for a dominating all-round effort against a battered Afghanistan in the World Cup here on Sunday, with eyes firmly set on bettering its net run rate.

Defending champion England’s campaign started on a disappointing note as it lost by nine wickets against New Zealand in the tournament opener in Ahmedabad on October 5.

But the Jos Buttler-led side bounced back in style, humbling Bangladesh by 137 runs in Dharamsala on Tuesday.

Despite putting up a competitive 282 for nine in the opener at a batting-friendly Narendra Modi Stadium pitch, England bowlers were taken to the cleaners by Devon Conway and Rachin Ravindra as New Zealand romped home in 36.2 overs.

But England made a superb comeback in its next match with both the batting and bowling departments clicking in unison.

It was not the batting unit which was the cause for concern for England against New Zealand, but its bowling, comprising Chris Woakes, Mark Wood, Sam Curran, Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid, which looked ordinary when Conway and Ravindra batted.

But in its next match against Bangladesh, England showed its might with a clinical performance. Opening the batting, Dawid Malan smashed 140 off 107 balls, while Joe Root continued his fine form with consecutive half-centuries. Jonny Bairstow too contributed a valuable 50 up the order.

It would be banking on another good start from its openers to post a huge total on a flat pitch at the relatively smaller Arun Jaitley Stadium that has witnessed huge scores in all the matches it has hosted so far in the tournament.

Besides, skipper Buttler, Harry Brook and Liam Livingstone would also want to mark their arrival in the tournament with substantial contributions in the middle-order.

England’s decision to replace an ineffective Moeen Ali with Reece Topley paid rich dividends against Bangladesh as the left-arm pacer inspired the bowling line-up with figures of 4/43 from his 10 overs.

Woakes, Wood, Curran and Rashid all returned to form and, not just were they economical, they also picked up wickets. England would look for a repeat performance from its players.

England would not just look for a victory against Afghanistan but would also want to win the match handsomely to boost its net run rate (NRR), which took a beating in its opener.

The Afghans, on the other hand, are low on confidence after successive defeats.

Dark-horse Afghanistan lost by six wickets against Bangladesh before it was thrashed by host India by eight wickets.