Ibrahim Zadran’s majestic 177 and pacer Azmatullah Omarzai’s fifer trumped Joe Root’s masterful hundred and knocked England out of the Champions Trophy on Wednesday.
Afghanistan won the thrilling eighth match of the ICC Champions Trophy by eight runs over England. In pursuit of the target of 326 runs, the entire team of England was dismissed by scoring 317 runs in the last over. Before starting the match at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore, Afghanistan won the toss and chose to bat first.
In the 50 overs allotted, they scored 325 runs and lost 7 wickets. With 12 fours and 6 sixes, Afghanistan’s opening batter Ibrahim Zadran scored 177, the tournament’s highest individual score, off 146 balls. England was bowled out for 317, with Joe Root’s 120 off 111 balls going in vain.
Root had England in the hunt, but after he gloved fast bowler Azmat Omarzai (5-58) behind the wickets in the 46th over, Afghanistan held its nerve. It won a memorable match with one ball remaining, despite a few fielding errors. It was Afghanistan’s second victory against England in a major 50-over ICC tournament; it also won the 2023 World Cup in India by a score of 69 runs.
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The captain of Afghanistan, Hashmatullah Shahidi, stated, “As a team, we are happy, and I’m sure the whole nation will be happy with this win.”What makes our team shine is the mix of skilled young players and experienced people who are at the top level of their game. I trust that we can maintain this energy going into our upcoming match against Australia.
Afghanistan needs to victory over the two-time champions Australia in their final Group B encounter at the same location this Friday to seal its second straight semifinal appearance in an ICC tournament, after reaching the playoffs in last year’s T20 World Cup.
England, which lost a high-scoring game to Australia at the same venue, will wrap up its disappointing run in the tournament with a match against semifinal contender South Africa at Karachi on Saturday.
Jos Buttler, captain of England, highlighted the spin threat posed by Afghanistan but backed his team’s pace attack to succeed. With this victory, Afghanistan keeps its semi-final hopes alive, while England faces an early exit from the tournament.