An unexpected thumping was in store for England. In the middle of the much-discussed batting order’s disastrous performance, Harry Brook was their final line of defense.
When Mujeeb ur Rahman bowled Brook for 66, England had three wickets in hand and needed 116 runs in little over 15 overs.
The crowd was just waiting for the last two after the eighth wicket was lost. “Jeetega bhai jeetega?” the DJ questioned.The audience said “Afghanistan jeetega”—a common Hindi term.
For once, Afghanistan must have thought they were playing on their own field. Rahmanullah Gurbaz concurred.
“We often cite India as our secondary residence. The major reason we adore India is because of the people. We love them and they love us a lot. And they follow us, shout for us, and support us everywhere we go, just like in every city. So, after the historic victory, Gurbaz stated, “We are extremely thrilled with the whole audience and of course, we appreciate the crowd coming from Afghanistan, from various sections to the ground.
India may be seen as Afghanistan’s home rather than a second home, despite the fact that the squad does not play there.
The Arun Jaitley Stadium can accommodate 48,000 fans, but according to the official record, just around 25,000 showed up on Sunday to see Afghanistan play England.
A portion of the audience would have cheered if England had chosen to bat first and pummel the Afghan bowlers mercilessly. The decision by England to bowl first prevented this from happening.
Another portion would have predicted an unexpected victory for Afghanistan. This looked likely for the most part, and it did occur gradually. The finest possible treatment was given to the Afghan fans. Unbiased spectators had seen one of the greatest cricket matches ever.
Most supporters were in favor of Afghanistan. When their hitters hit boundaries or sixes, they applauded. Every wicket, even those that were near calls, was applauded loudly in the second innings. There were also a few Afghanistan flags flying on the lower deck of the Mohinder Amarnath platform. There weren’t many shirtless England fans in the crowd. One South African flag was also being waved throughout the first innings, as though to break up the monotony.
The Afghan players returned the favor and competed with unwavering tenacity the whole game.
Rahmanullah and Ibrahim Zadran got the game going quickly by scoring 79 runs on the powerplay and putting up a 114-run opening stand. But during this cooperation, the audience was uninterested.
The audience sometimes screamed and clapped when an odd boundary was scored, but when England’s spinners began to weave a web around Afghanistan’s batsmen, the crowd became silent.
In the 37th over, Rashid Khan then entered the game to bat. The audience seemed to have woken up as he delivered the hit. The volume at Kotla increased as “Rashid, Rashid” chants were shouted. The audience had not before been so entranced, not even by the in-house DJ. That is what fame entails.
“Every time Rashid comes to the center, whether to bat or bowl, it seems someone like Kohli or Rohit has come in,” commented a fellow member of the media team.
Rashid has been the one inspiring his team and country, and with good reason. He quickly broke a number of barriers, and one of them helped Afghanistan pass 200.
Rashid took careful to defend his star-like status off the field even if he is a great performer on it. The all-around player has already made it known that he would donate his World Cup match money to individuals back home who were impacted by the disaster.
The only other occasion the Kotla crowd was audible was when Naveen-ul-Haq entered the batting order and later bowled. But the cries were “Kohli, Kohli” to mock Naveen.
When Naveen stepped up to bat, the crowd started chanting “Kohli” for the first time. However, this didn’t last long.
When Naveen took the ball in the 12th over of the second innings, the fans went wild. Naveen took his time preparing the field and used expressive movements to give the impression that he was not paying attention to the fans. Several times during Afghanistan’s bowling, the action was repeated.
The tenacious bowling of Afghanistan prevented England from releasing their guns. To begin with, they hunted in packs while applying pressure. Five different bowlers each took one of the first five wickets. With each wicket that fell, the audience became louder.
The audience reserved their best for when Rashid trapped Liam Livingstone just in front of the wickets in the 21st over with 117 on board, sending half of the England team back to the pavilion.
Since then, a cheer has accompanied each wicket in expectation of an English loss. Afghanistan was lagging behind the over-rate a bit. However, it seemed that England was in a race against time.
The fan favorite Rashid took the last two wickets while Mujeeb ur Rahman, who also earned player of the match, caused the most of the damage and put England on the back foot.
Rashid held both his palms out in joy as he shook Mark Wood’s stumps. Around him, the group had already assembled.
By that point, the throng had thinned down, but the applause was louder than ever. At the borderlines, theatrical smoke began to join the mob in its joy. Because their side had pulled off one of the greatest shocks in world cup history, a few Afghan supporters suddenly took off their jerseys and waved them about like Sourav Ganguly.