Jos Buttler's Advice To England After Shocking World Cup Loss To Afghanistan: 'Let It Hurt'

England captain Jos Buttler has a piece of serious advice for his side after their shocking loss to Afghanistan in the ongoing ICC Cricket World Cup.

Afghanistan on Sunday produced the first upset of the World Cup 2023 by beating defending champions England by 69 runs in Delhi. Hashmatullah Shahidi-led Afghanistan bowled out England for 215 runs in 40.3 overs, leaving Buttler and co's campaign hanging.

Jos Buttler: England need to come back stronger

Buttler admitted that his side was "outplayed" by Afghanistan before adding that the Englishmen must not forget the loss immediately.

"You got to let these defeats hurt, there's no point in getting over things too quickly, we need to reflect. There's a lot of character in this group, we need to show a lot of resilience and come back stronger. We need to have guys being able to perform under pressure and that's what all of us will be working hard towards," added Buttler at the post-match presentation in Delhi.

The latest victory ended Afghanistan's 14-match losing streak in the World Cup, which also included a winless 2019 campaign. The result was more shocking because world champions England lost to a side that had won just one match in a World Cup until then.

England captain credits Afghanistan's Gurbaz

As England are chasing to become just the third team to defend their Cricket World Cup title, Buttler admitted that the loss was a "setback" in England's title defence.

Pointing out what went wrong for England against Afghanistan, Buttler said that his side started their chase of 285 poorly.

"We started poorly, the first ball of the game I missed one and it sort of set the tone for that first 10 overs, we didn't hit the areas that we wanted to," said Buttler, who even praised Afghan opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz.

England won the toss at Arun Jaitley Stadium and asked Afghanistan to bat first. Gurbaz top scored for his side with 80 off 57 at an incredible strike rate of 140.35. He struck four sixes and eight fours in his knock that played a vital role in Afghanistan posting a competitive total of 284 against England.

"Credit to Gurbaz, as he put us under a lot of pressure, and played some good shots, but maybe a few too many easy boundaries in there. And it took us a while to sort of get into the game, as you said, and we came back well, and then maybe let them get a few too many more at the end," added Buttler.

After Gurbaz, Afghanistan's wicketkeeper-batsman Ikram Alikhil also contributed with a crucial half-century as he scored 58 off 66 balls.

During the chase, England's batters lost the battle to Afghanistan's spinners. Rashid Khan and his protégé Mujeeb Ur Rahman picked up three wickets each, while senior spinner Mohammad Nabi bagged two scalps as well.

Mujeeb was named the Player of the Match as he claimed wickets of important English batsmen. Harry Brook, who top scored for England with 66 runs, fell to Mujeeb. The Afghan spinner also dismissed Joe Root, England's current best ODI batsman and tail-ender Chris Woakes, who has the ability to score quick runs.

Meanwhile, Mujeeb also scored a quick-fire 28 runs off 16 balls, hitting six and three boundaries that propelled Afghanistan's total to a match-winning 284.

The smiles of the Afghanistan players spoke volumes of what the victory meant to them and their coach, former England batter Jonathan Trott, who said: "This is a significant win and it's very pleasing with a lot of confidence that will come from this. It'll have a knock-on effect as to just what Afghanistan cricket can achieve."

Afghanistan's next match in the World Cup 2023 is against New Zealand on Wednesday at MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai. England, on the other hand, have a big game lined up next against South Africa on Saturday at Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai.