Afghanistan repeated history with their back-to-back wins over England in the ICC events when they defeated Three Lions by eight runs in a close thriller at Lahore's Gaddafi Stadium on Wednesday, 26 February 2025. (Highlights | Full Coverage | More Cricket News)
♊With this win, England are eliminated from the tournament whereas Afghans keep their hopes alive with their next match scheduled against the world-champions Australia.
Azamtullah Omarzai completed his five-wicket haul with the last wicket of Adil Rashid 🀅in the last over of the match when he was defending 13 runs. Rashid went for a big shot and was caught at the mid-off by centurion Ibrahim Zadran.
♈It was a match full of ups and downs for Afghanistan as they decided to bat first after winning the toss. They lost three early wickets at the score of just 37 runs inside the first powerplay courtesy of Jofra Archer.
Afghanistan Vs England, ICC Champions Trophy 2025: Playing XIs
England𒁃: Philip Salt, Ben Duckett, Jamie Smith(w), Joe Root, Harry Brook, Jos Buttler(c), Liam Livingstone, Jofra Archer, Jamie Overton, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood
Afghanistan𓂃: Rahmanullah Gurbaz(w), Ibrahim Zadran, Sediqullah Atal, Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi(c), Azmatullah Omarzai, Mohammad Nabi, Gulbadin Naib, Rashid Khan, Noor Ahmad, Fazalhaq Farooqi
Then, Zadran added 103 runs for the fourth wicket with captain Hashmatullah Shahidi (40) and 72 runs for the fifth wicket with Omarzai (41). After the dismissal of the ODI Cricketer of the Year 2024 Omarzai, veteran Mohammad Nabi joined Zadran at the crease.
Zadran and Nabi added 111 runs for the sixth wicket and took Afghanistan past 300 runs. The 23-year-old Zadran went on to score the highest individual score (177) in the ICC 𒅌Champions Trophy history. He took 146 balls and hit 12 fours and six sixes in his historic knock.
🦩Afghanistan set a big target of 326 runs for England after Liam Livingstone picked up two wickets in the last over and conceded just two runs.
🐽England lost Phil Salt and Jamie Smith's wickets early in the inning but Joe Root added 68 runs with Ben Duckett for the third wicket. Joe Root went on to score his first ODI century after almost five years and 37 innings in the format.
🤪Harry Brook and Jos Buttler also got a good start but both failed to convert in a big knock and the responsibility came onto the veteran batter. Root added a few partnerships with the middle-order batter and tailenders but lost his wicket in the death overs.
꧙Jamie Overton played a good cameo of 32 runs off just 28 balls but Omarzai dismissed him in the 48th over. Omarzai picked up five wickets in the match.
🎉Jofra Archer and Adil Rashid tried their best in the end but the pressure of boundary hitting got them. Afghanistan won the match by eight runs and England are eliminated!
ജIbrahim Zadran was named Player of the Match for his brilliant knock of 177 runs. This was his and Afghanistan's second century in the ICC events.
💝England will face South Africa in their next match on Saturday, 1 March at Karachi, whereas Afghanistan will meet Australia on Friday, 28 February in Lahore and the winner will enter the semi-finals from Group B.
