Lahore: Afghanistan held their nerves as they defeated England by eight runs in an edge-of-a-seat thriller in the Group B league game of the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 at Lahore on Wednesday.
This was England’s second successive loss in the marquee tournament and the Jos Buttler-led side were knocked out of the ICC event and will now take a flight home. Azmatullah Omarzai needed to defend 13 runs and he conceded only four runs as celebrations erupted in the stadium and in the Afghanistan camp.
Chasing a target of 326, England coped up two early blows in the form of Phillip Salt and Jamie Smith. After being reduced to 30/2, Joe Root anchored the chase while wickets kept falling from the other end. Root played a knock of 120 runs from 111 deliveries laced with 11 boundaries and 1 maximum. However, when he was dismissed by Azmatullah Omarzai, the match was heading for a thriller as England needed 39 runs from 25 deliveries with Jamie Overton and Jofra Archer on the crease.
𝐀𝐅𝐆𝐇𝐀𝐍𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐍 𝐁𝐄𝐀𝐓 𝐄𝐍𝐆𝐋𝐀𝐍𝐃! 🙌
— Afghanistan Cricket Board (@ACBofficials) February 26, 2025
Afghanistan has successfully defended their total and defeated England by 8 runs to register their first-ever victory in the ICC Champions Trophy. 🤩
This marks Afghanistan's second consecutive victory over England in ICC… pic.twitter.com/uMymfovxZa
Overton amassed 32 runs from 28 deliveries and the equation was reduced to England needing 16 runs from the last two overs. However, Omarzai, who bowled the last over kept his nerves intact to beat England.
Afghanistan won the toss and chose to bat in a do-or-die game for both teams. Jofra Archer started the proceedings with the ball for England and he bowled an impressive spell ripping apart the top order of the opposition. Afghanistan were reduced to 37/3 soon but the duo of Ibrahim Zadran and Hashmatullah Shahidi (40) staged a recovery after that stitching a 103-run partnership for the fourth wicket. Ibrahim Zadran was on fire from the start and he kept anchoring the innings and smashed a brilliant century while batters after Shahidi provided him support from the other end.
Zadran played a knock of 177 runs laced with 12 boundaries and six maximums. The right-handed batter broke several records during his knock. Azamatullah Omarzai (41) and Mohammad Nabi (40) provided the finishing touches to the innings and Afghanistan posted 325/7 while batting first. Jofra Archer was the pick of the bowlers taking three wickets for 64 runs.
