England fall under pressure losing four wkts before 100

England have fallen under pressure losing four wickets before reaching the 100 mark while chasing 285 runs against Afghanistan in the 13th game of the World Cup in Delhi.

The defending champions lost their fourth wicket on 91 runs after 17.2 overs at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Sunday.
The Afghan bowlers kept picking up wickets from the very beginning of the innings as Fazalhaq Farooqi sent Jonny Bairstow back to the pavilion for two runs, making 3/1 after 1.1 overs.

Following Bairstow, England lost Joe Root (11), Dawid Malan (32 and Jos Buttler (9) one after another at regular intervals.

England are now 115/4 after playing 20 overs.

Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Naveen-ul-Haq and Mohammad Nabi got one wicket each for Afghanistan.

Earlier, Afghanistan were bowled out for 284 runs despite a flying start losing all of their wickets just one ball before ending the full 50 overs.

Being asked to bat, Afghanistan got off to a flying start with a power-hitting fifty by Rahmanullah Gurbaz. Afghanistan were taking runs at over seven runs per over, eyeing for a big total.

Gurbaz played a 57-ball 80 after and made a 114-run stand with Ibrahim Zadran (28) in the first wicket. Afghanistan then lost their three batters in quick succession.

Since then, Afghanistan kept losing wickets at regular intervals, slowing down the run rate. Ikram Alikhil (58) picked up his third fifty in his ODI career in the middle.

Later, Mujeeb Ur Rahman (28) and Rashid Khan (23) played cameos, taking the team to 284 at the end.

Leg-spinner Adil Rashid bagged the highest three wickets while pacer Mark Wood got two for England. Reece Topely, Liam Livingstone and Joe Root picked up one wicket each.

Playing XIs:

England: Jonny Bairstow, Dawid Malan, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Jos Buttler(w/c), Liam Livingstone, Sam Curran, Chris Woakes, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood, Reece Topley.

Afghanistan: Rahmanullah Gurbaz(w), Ibrahim Zadran, Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi(c), Mohammad Nabi, Ikram Alikhil, Azmatullah Omarzai, Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Naveen-ul-Haq, Fazalhaq Farooqi.

EM