However, Curran continued to bamboozle Afghans with his pace, line and length, dismissing Rashid Khan and Mujeeb Ur Rahman for ducks. Curran had got a three-wicket haul, reducing Afghanistan to 109/7.
With Ben Stokes coming out of retirement and the 2019 title winning core group largely intact, England will fancy a successful campaign in challenging conditions in India during the 50-over World Cup starting on October 5.
Stand-in skipper Moeen Ali smashed a blistering half-century and picked up two key wickets in the West Indies chase as England squared the five-match Twenty20 series at 2-2 with a 34-run victory in the fourth game in Bridgetown on Saturday.
England's young left-arm spin bowler Zafar Ansari says he closely followed Indian spinner Pragyan Ojha's action and tried to learn from Murali Kartik during their county stints at Surrey.
In a shocking incident, England cricketer Moeen Ali was on Saturday stopped at the Birmingham airport for close to 40 minutes. Ali was on his way to join the rest of the Worcestershire side for the opening game of the 2016 County Championship. The England all-rounder was clearly angry with the treatment meted out to him and took to Twitter to voice his sentiments. "Have never been stopped at the airport when travelling with a team in uniform, but travel alone and get stopped for 40 minutes!! Joke," Ali tweeted.
England claimed a 72-run first-innings lead to push for a series-levelling victory but Hafeez and Azhar Ali shared an opening partnership of 101 to bring the hosts back into the match.
Afghanistan dismissed England for 215 to create one of the biggest upsets in World Cup history.
India's senior opener Rohit Sharma moved a place up to 23rd in the batting chart while pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah jumped 10 places to joint 24th in the ICC men's T20 rankings issued on Wednesday.
To avoid the ignominy of missing the cut for the prestigious Champions Trophy, England must win their remaining two fixtures against the Netherlands and Pakistan.
Shamsi's wrist spin accounted for Liam Livingstone, Sam Curran and David Willey, who was bowled first ball to set up a hat-trick chance that Chris Jordan denied him.
Ben Stokes smashed an unbeaten century as England outclassed World champions Australia by 40 runs via the Duckworth-Lewis method in a rain-hit match to knock them out of the ICC Champions Trophy, in Birmingham, on Saturday.
Dhawan blamed batting unit for loss against SRH
England, the defending champions of the ICC T20 World Cup, have several areas to address if they want to defend their title
Veteran Lucknow Super Giants spinner Amit Mishra credited his success in the five-wicket victory over Sunrisers Hyderabad in Friday's IPL match in Lucknow to making a careful assessment of the wicket and taking mental notes of the shots that batters are likely to employ against his bowling.
Vanquished England skipper Alastair Cook blamed missed chances and lack of spin-bowling options for losing the fourth Test by an innings and 36 runs and with that the five-match series, in Mumbai on Monday.
Here are some 'different' clicks as England sauntered to another comfortable victory on Tuesday...
'Unfortunately for India, Rahul and Rohit could not find form in the big games, putting pressure on Virat and Suryakumar, who both can't perform game after game.'
Images from the T20 World Cup Super 12s match between Bangladesh and England, in Abu Dhabi, on Wednesday.
England fast bowler Jofra Archer has urged victims of racial abuse to speak out following the death of an unarmed black man in police custody in the United States. Archer has played seven Tests and 14 one-day internationals for England and has lauded the team for its diversity.
England named all-rounder Chris Woakes and batsman Ollie Pope on Tuesday in their squad for the final Test against India which will be Alastair Cook's last international appearance.
Sri Lanka, the 1996 winners, kick-started their bid for a place in the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup semi-finals in dramatic fashion with a 20-run win against hosts England at Headingley. It took them to six points and off-spinner Dhananjaya de Silva insists they can still finish in the top four of the group despite suffering a pair of washouts in Bristol.
Curator Kasturi Sriram said that unlike the Rajkot wicket, the 22-yard strip in Visakhapatnam to be provided for the second Test against England "won't have much grass".
England's humiliating series defeat in India painfully exposed an alarming paucity in the side's slow bowling options and drove home the fact they will continue to struggle in South Asia until they unearth some world class spinners. Retired off-spinner Graeme Swann had bemoaned England's indifferent approach towards slow bowling before the five-match series started and his fears were confirmed after the touring side were handed a 4-0 drubbing.
He, along with teammate Alex Hales, could yet be fined and suspended, however it will be some time before that conclusion can be reached.
Spinner Zafar Ansari will make his England Test debut in the second and final match against Bangladesh while Stuart Broad is rested as Alastair Cook rotates his side ahead of the tour to India.
Daryl Mitchell won the award for his gesture of refusing to take a single in the high-pressure T20 World Cup semi-final against England in Abu Dhabi on November 10, 2021.
An extra bowler would have allowed the rest of the attack more time to recuperate, feels Indian pacer Jasprit Bumrah, who conceded they failed to execute their plans against England's tailenders on the second day of the fifth and final Test.
Bangladesh would like to exploit those chinks in England's armour
Suryakumar reached a career-best-equalling second position in the ICC men's T20I Player rankings
England held their nerve in the face of a late assault by Akeal Hosein and Romario Shepherd to secure a one-run victory over the West Indies in Bridgetown on Sunday and level their five-match Twenty20 International series at 1-1.
The disciplinary hearing into allegations of racism at Yorkshire County Cricket Club is a "terrible look for the game", former England captain Michael Vaughan said on Friday.
The Indian team management will try to keep cards close and assess defending champions England's batting depth when the home team takes field for its first World Cup warm-up match game, in Guwahati on Saturday.
The batting as a whole has not clicked for Sunrisers and it is no surprise they find themselves in a desperate situation in the second half of the tournament.
Full list of players released, retained and traded by all ten teams in the IPL.
England stood on the brink of the semi-finals of the Twenty20 World Cup after Jos Buttler's batting pyrotechnics secured their comprehensive eight-wicket victory against Australia in a Group I match on Saturday.
He started off with a boundary off the first ball he faced in international T20 cricket and did not look back from that point. He glanced Jofra Archer fine on the leg side for his first four before pulling Sam Curran for another four in the next over.
Starc took his tally to 19 wickets in the tournament so far.
Srinivas Bhogle and Purnendu Maji present Rediff.com's Most Valuable Player Index after 33 World Cup 2023 games.
Who do you think should be part of the Indian team for the T20 World Cup semi-final against England?
England captain Alastair Cook hailed his team's performance in drawing the first Test with Pakistan on Saturday after the tourists recovered from conceding more than 500 first innings runs to be within 25 of an improbable victory.
