Afghanistan lost most games in a single World Cup

Bengaluru, July 5: Afghanistan had come to play their second ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 in England and Wales with a lot of promise but they failed to win a single game in the tournament.

The Asian side had won the qualifying tournament in Zimbabwe in March last year, beating the West Indies in the final.

Afghans have had an impressive record in the months running up to the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 and even beat Pakistan in a warm-up game.

WC Special | Fixtures | Squads

But when it came to the actual tournament comprising nine games for the team, the blue-and-red team failed to win a single game.

With their 0-9 record, Afghanistan became the first team to lose that many games in a single World Cup. There have been teams in the past World Cups that went winless, but none had lost so many matches as Afghanistan did (the maximum before this losing six and winning none).

Even in the 2015 edition, Afghanistan had managed to win at least one game, which was against Scotland.

Here is the list of teams that failed to win a single game in a World Cup over the years.

1975; East Africa and Sri Lanka lost all 3 games: East Africa, who played the only World Cup that year, had lost all their three games in the group to New Zealand, India and hosts England in the group. In the other group, Sri Lanka lost their matches to the West Indies, Australia and Pakistan.

1979; Canada and India lost all 3 games: While Canada lost to Pakistan, England and Australia in the group games to go home winless, India had the similar fate in the other group in which they lost to the West Indies, New Zealand and Sri Lanka.

1983; No team went winless: Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe won at least a game each.

1987; Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka lost all 6 games: In this World Cup, four teams in each of the two groups were to play their three opponents twice in the group. While Zimbabwe lost all their six games against co-hosts India, Australia and New Zealand, Sri Lanka had a ditto experience against co-hosts Pakistan, England and the West Indies.

1992; bottom-placed Zimbabwe too had won at least one game even though they lost seven.

1996; Netherlands lost all their 5 games: The debutants failed to win a single game and even lost to the other debutants at the WC - United Arab Emirates. The Dutch had lost to New Zealand, England, Pakistan and South Africa.

1999; Kenya and Scotland lost all their 5 games: Kenya, playing in their second WC, had lost to Zimbabwe, England, India, South Africa and Sri Lanka (however, like Afghanistan, they had won a game in their debut tournament in 1996) in the group. In the other group, debutants Scotland lost to Australia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, West Indies and New Zealand.

2003; Namibia lost all their 6 games; Bangladesh also went winless: Namibia, playing in their first WC, had lost to all their six opponents in the group, namely, Zimbabwe, Pakistan, England, India, Australia and the Netherlands. In the other group, Bangladesh also finished without a win as they lost to Canada, Sri Lanka, South Africa, New Zealand and Kenya while their game against the West Indies was hit by rain.

2007; Four teams finished without a win: This World Cup in the West Indies had four groups with as many teams each. Each group saw at least one team failing to script a win. In Group A, Scotland lost to Australia, South Africa and the Netherlands; in Group B, debutants Bermuda lost to Sri Lanka, India and Bangladesh; Canada in Group C lost to Kenya, England and New Zealand while in Group D, Zimbabwe lost to hosts West Indies and Pakistan while they tied Ireland.

2011; Kenya and Netherlands lost all 6 games: While Kenya lost to New Zealand, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Canada, Australia and Zimbabwe in Group A, the Netherlands lost to England, West Indies, South Africa, India, Bangladesh and Ireland in Group B.

2015; Scotland and UAE lost all their 6 games: Scotland lost to New Zealand, England, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Australia in Group A. On the other hand, the UAE lost to Zimbabwe, Ireland, India, Pakistan, South Africa and the West Indies.