Mujeeb dedicates Afghanistan triumph to quake victims

NEW DELHI (AFP): Afghanistan spinner Mujeeb Ur Rahman on Sunday dedicated his team’s stunning Cricket World Cup victory over champions England to the victims of the earthquakes which have rocked his country.

Mujeeb, 22, was man of the match for his three wickets and 28 runs as Afghanistan shocked England by 69 runs in New Delhi.

Earlier Sunday, a magnitude 6.3 earthquake killed two people in western Afghanistan where tremors have claimed at least 1,000 lives this past week.

“This is for the people back home who have been affected by the earthquake. As players and as a team, I wanted to dedicate my award to them,” said Mujeeb.

He added: “It’s a very proud moment to be here in the World Cup beating the last champions, it is a good moment for the whole nation and the team. A wonderful performance for the bowlers and the batters.”

Before Sunday, Afghanistan’s only win at a World Cup came back in 2015 on their debut over Scotland.

Since that tournament, they were on a 14-match World Cup losing streak.

Two of those losses had come at this edition — by six wickets to Bangladesh and eight wickets to India.

“It’s a tough loss to take. Congratulations to Afghanistan, they outplayed us today,” said England captain Jos Buttler.

“They’ve got a really skilful attack, some fantastic spinners especially.”