World Cup upsets over the years: Where Afghanistan's stunning win over England stands in history

Afghanistan's dismantling of England is the latest addition to a list of small teams making the bigwigs eat the humble pie over the years in the World Cup

The 2023 World Cup saw its first upset on Sunday and it was a big one. Afghanistan, playing in the tournament for just the third time, managed to beat defending champions England by a whopping 69 runs. They defended a target of 284 by dismissing the star-studded England batting lineup to a score of 215. This is just the second time that Afghanistan have won a match at the World Cup and the first time they have beat a Test-playing nation. Their last victory came in the 2015 World Cup, where they made their tournament debut, beating Scotland by one wicket.

Afghanistan's win over England goes down as one of the greatest upsets in the history of the World Cup (Getty Images/Reuters)

While this may have been the first of this World Cup, there have been numerous upsets in previous editions of the tournament. In fact, with Afghanistan themselves being a full member of the ICC and possessing two of the most potent white ball spinners in the world in Rashid Khan and Mujeeb-ur-Rahman, this result against England could arguably be less surprising than some of those earlier upsets. Let us take a look at four of those results that could arguably be considered equal to or bigger than Afghanistan's monumental achievement.

1. West Indies vs Kenya, 1996 World Cup (Kenya win by 73 runs)

Kenya were making their World Cup debut and had one professional cricketer in their ranks in Steve Tikolo. West Indies were a side in disarray going into that tournament but the fact remains that they were still one of the leading sides in world cricket, boasting star names such as captain Richie Richardson, Brian Lara, Courtney Walsh and Curtly Ambrose. To add to the sheer ludicrous nature of the result, Kenya were all out for a paltry 166 batting first. The West Indies, two-time World Cup champions, ended up being all out for 93, with Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Roger Harper being the only players to get to double digit scores. As far as upsets go, there are few more unbelievable as this match in the history of international cricket.

2. Pakistan vs Bangladesh, 1999 World Cup (Bangladesh win by 62 runs)

Bangladesh had just two wins in ODI cricket - against Kenya and Scotland, before they brought down the might of Pakistan in the 1998 World Cup. They were also yet to become ICC Full Member at the time. Pakistan, led by Wasim Akram and boasting the likes of Saeed Anwar, Shahid Afridi, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Saleem Malik, Saqlain Mushtaq, Waqar Younis and a young Shoaib Akhtar in their ranks, chose to bat first. Bangladesh put together a score of 223/9. But then Pakistan collapsed to 42/5 in the first 13 overs and never recovered from there. They were all out for 161.

3. England vs Ireland, 2011 World Cup (Ireland won by 3 wickets)

This match is the perfect example of an “explosive” ODI. England, who were far from embracing the ethos of white ball cricket the way they have since the 2015 World Cup, for once put up a bit of a big-hitting display and smashed 327/8. Ireland were yet to become full members and it looked like a cake walk for England, especially when James Anderson dismissed captain William Porterfield off the first ball of the chase. Ireland had a couple of good partnerships for the second and third wickets but were eventually reduced to 111/5 in the 25th over. From this point though everything change largely thanks to Kevin O'Brien, who put on a display of power-hitting that had rarely been seen in ODI cricket before. He eventually scored a century in 50 balls, the fastest in the history of the tournament. That record stood until Aiden Markram broke it this year. O'Brien eventually ended unbeaten on 113 off 63 balls and Ireland, incredibly, ended up with a score of 329/7, beating England by 3 wickets with five balls to spare.

4. Sri Lanka vs Kenya, 2003 World Cup (Kenya win by 53 runs)

While the result itself was quite a shock, this match gains more relevance due to the role it played in Kenya eventually qualifying for the super six and then the semi-finals. Kenya batted first and put together a score of 210/9. Sri Lanka though, featuring the likes of Sanath Jayasuriya, Mahela Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara and Aravinda de Silva, ended up being all out for 157. This win helped Kenya become the first non-Test playing nation to go past the first round of a World Cup. They then upstaged that by even qualifying to the semi-final, where they lost to India by 91 runs. Unfortunately though, this turned out to be the last time Kenya made such noises in international cricket and they have never even come close to being considered as contenders to even qualify for the World Cup since then.