Afghanistan defeated defending champions England by 69 runs at the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 to deliver one of the biggest upsets in the tournament’s history.
Afghanistan’s English coach Jonathan Trott said it would “take a while [for the result] to sink in” after his side’s unexpected win in New Delhi on Sunday.It was not the first time one of the top-ranked sides had lost a Cricket World Cup match to a less fancied opposition.
Here’s a look at some of the biggest upsets in the tournament’s history:India break West Indian supremacy
India beat West Indies by 43 runs at Lord’s on June 25, 1983 to win their first Cricket World Cup title.
They shocked the two-time defending champions in the final of the 1983 tournament, having arrived at the World Cup with just 17 wins in their first nine years as a one-day international (ODI) team.
Kapil Dev’s men managed to score just 183 – with the top scorer, Kris Srikkanth, scoring a modest 38 – as the West Indies pace battery of Andy Roberts, Michael Holding, and Malcolm Marshall showed no mercy.
But then, Mohinder Armanath (3-12) and Madan Lal (3-31) suffocated the flamboyant West Indies batsmen, with Viv Richards managing the top score of 33 for the side.
The title win made Dev and his men overnight heroes in their country as cricket fever truly gripped the South Asian nation.