T20 World Cup 2022: Top 10 funny memes after England's hard-fought victory against Afghanistan
England began their 2022 T20 World Cup campaign with a five-wicket victory over Afghanistan in a Super 12 match on Saturday, October 22, at the Perth Stadium.
Bowling all-rounder Sam Curran paved the way for England's victory with a sensational five-wicket haul in the first innings. He deservingly won the player-of-the-match award for his match-defining effort with the ball.
Afghanistan batted first in the contest after losing the toss. Mohammad Nabi's side got off to a sedate start as they lost both openers with 36 on the scoreboard in 6.3 overs. They kept losing wickets at regular intervals from there on and never found any rhythm in their innings.
Ibrahim Zadran (32) and Usman Ghani (30) tried to rebuild the innings but failed in the pursuit. Sam Curran (5/10) triggered a collapse by dismissing Ibrahim Zadran in the 12th over. From 63/3 in 11.1 overs at that juncture, Afghanistan got all-out for 112 and handed over the advantage to their opponents.
Ben Stokes and Mark Wood picked up two wickets apiece and played supporting roles for Curran in the bowling department.
In reply, England had to fight hard to get over the line. Their top order struggled to score freely as the Afghan bowlers kept a tight leash on the scoring rate.
Liam Livingstone (29) played sensibly in the middle order to ensure England began their campaign with a win. The English side reached 113/5 in 18.1 overs and won the match by five wickets.
Speaking at the post-match presentation, Jos Buttler reflected on his side's performance and said:
"The ball swung early, against a talented bowling attack, it wasn't easy, had to pay respect to the bowlers, we tried to blast our way through and ended up being two or three down, added a lot of pressure on us, could've been more fluent but Afghanistan bowled really well."
He added:
"It's always nerves in the first game, we've been playing a lot of cricket up until the first ball, there's always anticipation but excited to get the win on board. Big grounds here, guys are putting a lot of effort to take great catches, one of the better one's yea, Mark Wood is fun to keep wicket too, delighted to hang on to that one."
Fans react to England's win against Afghanistan
Cricket fans on social media enjoyed the low-scoring encounter between England and Afghanistan in Perth. They expressed their reactions through some engaging memes on social media.
Here is a collection of the best memes:
@CricCrazyJohns Afghanistan fielding today https://t.co/CQewBfztOn
English bowlers today :
#ENGvAFG https://t.co/uRE5TvKyu3
#NZvAUS #AfgvsEng
PCT fans rn after watching Aussies and Afghani's defeat: https://t.co/0Tob5itL64
Be it in UAE or in AUSTRALIA (where he is dominant as per fans) failure in #T20worldcup is permanent for Dawid Malan.
18 off 30 at a SR of 60 V Afghanistan in the opening game for England in #T20worldcup22 . Couldn't get exposed more badly unlike match winner Root in T20 WC. https://t.co/pE51NGtosg
Dawid Malan just played Bazzball against Afghanistan 🤯
#AFGvENG #ENGvsAFG #T20WorldCup https://t.co/hN8xuxSkbd
When you realize #AUSvNZ and #ENGvAFG are done and dusted and now its time for #PAKvIND. https://t.co/qUrUQjXAT1
Sri Lanka will take on Ireland in the next Super 12 game on Sunday (October 23) at the Bellerive Oval in Hobart.