AFGANISTAN VS ENGLAND , 8TH MATCH , ICC CHAMPION TROPHY : Zadran and Omarzai , The Duo That Shattered England’s CT25 Dreams .
England were on Wednesday eliminated from the group stages of Champions Trophy 2025 in their tournament opener after suffering a shocking eight-run defeat to Afghanistan. With the loss to Australia in their opening encounter, it was a must-win game for England. Well, similar was the case for Afganistan, who registered not only a historic victory but also kept themselves alive in the race for the semi-finals. The chase of 326 ended up in England being all out for 317, with Azmatullah Omarzai taking five for 58. But it was Ibrahim Zadran’s 177 off 146 balls that really kept Afghanistan in the game. Afghanistan’s were in tatters losing three in the powerplay but Zadran did not let that stop him from playing a blinder. But a first-innings big total 325 for 7 posted by Afghanistan will help. Zadran and Omarzai , The Duo That Shattered England’s CT25 Dreams .
TOSS-
Afghanistan won the toss and bat .
TEAMS LINE UP-
AFGHANISTAN(PLAYING XI)-
Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Ibrahim Zadran, Sediqullah Atal, Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi (c), Azmatullah Omarzai, Mohammad Nabi, Gulbadin Naib, Rashid Khan, Noor Ahmad, Fazalhaq Farooqi
ENGLND(PLAYING XI)-
Philip Salt, Ben Duckett, Jamie Smith (wk), Joe Root, Harry Brook, Jos Buttler (c), Liam Livingstone, Jofra Archer, Jamie Overton, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood
AFGHANISTAN-
Archer, hitting perfect lengths during his initial spell, completely shifted the feet of the Afghanistan batters, to the extent that they were caught unawares against the change-ups. Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Sediqullah Atal went to full balls and Rahmat Shah was prized out by a surprise short ball. Zadran began the rebuild job in the company of captain Hashmatullah Shahidi, regularly finding the odd boundary to keep the scoreboard ticking.
He reached his half-century off 65 balls as Afghanistan went past 100 in the 25th over. The acceleration started three overs afterwards when he removed Jamie Overton for 16 runs which included a back-slapped back over the bowler for a six. The Zadran-Shahidi partnership had barely passed 100 when the second fell for 40, trying to drive a very full ball from Adil Rashid only for it to hit his stumps.
Zadran was required to slow down for a bit as he approached the hundred but Azmatullah Omarzai ensured that the run rate did not dip and he added 41 off just 31 including an onslaught of Mark Wood, who was down on pace in his second spell after appearing to hurt his knee and spending long time off the field.
Having taken 106 balls to reach this century, Zadran required just 28 for his next 50, as he and Mohammad Nabi opened the sluice gates against a wilting England attack. There were a six and three consecutive boundaries from Zadran in the course of an over from Archer, while Nabi matched that adventure, smiting Joe Root for a brace of sixes. England too started to make mistakes on the pitch — miscues, near-misses, even general clumsiness, with Liam Livingstone appearing to pick up a knock. The all-rounder did come back to bowl a superb fiftieth over, which cost him only two runs for two wickets, but Afghanistan had ransacked 113 from their last 10 overs, leaving his vaunted spin arsenal with plenty to defend.
Afghanistan’s 325 might feel a chat underpowered — Australia chased 351 without undue stress the other night in this stadium — but it dispatched a few bags of runs on the board. But it is wise to see this through the prism of where they had been in this key Group B clash after deciding to bat. It was a tactic that had served them well 16 months earlier when they defeated England in a World Cup encounter at New Delhi. But here they seemed subjected to some early strife from Jofra Archer, who bowled six of England’s first 11 overs and made the other side 37 for 3.
ENGLAND-
England then slid to 30 for 2 when for the second time in two matches Mohammad Nabi had success with the first delivery of his spell, Jamie Smith this time chipping a leading edge directly to point in an attempt to set the tone early against spin. Salt had opened his account with two boundaries in one over but lost his off stump as he tried to swipe Omarzai across the line.
Duckett had only added eight when he played all around a slider from Rashid Khan and was pinged on the pads. The Afghans were able to break the 68-run stand with a review that overturned the on-field ‘not out’ call. Afghanistan were particularly good at putting the pressure on the new batter and similar to Root earlier, Harry Brook also got three fours during his first 11 balls. Gradually though, the fourth wicket fell against the trend as Brook aimlessly spooned a catch back to Nabi for the veteran’s second wicket.
When they were 133 for 4 in the 22nd over, England had their backs against the wall, particularly with Buttler unable to find any sort of rhythm to his innings with the spinners on. The England captain survived an LBW review against Nabi on Umpire’s Call and while reverse sweeping Noor Ahmad had proven profitable for others, it brought him no success. And even with Root holding one end up, batting gently enough, Buttler’s troubles did nothing to relieve the scoreboard pressure. At one stage, he was (12 off 24) before, he cut loose, charging Nabi and lofting a six. Another maximum arrived in good time, this one through the slog sweep.
England’s two senior batters put on 83 before Omarzai returned to administer another twist by bounc-ing out Buttler for a 42-ball 38. Gulbadin Naib had Liam Livingstone caught behind cheaply as England turned towards the final 10 overs of a chase that still needed 90. Jamie Overton followed him, sensibly avoiding risk in the remaining overs of spin bowled by Noor and Rashid to reserve the attack for Afghanistan’s medium pacers.
But as it turned out, he and all his fellow professors were facing an inspired Omarzai. Joe Root had made to the 98-ball hundred, but as he bore the effects of keeping up with his marathon innings in the heat, even he saw fit to unfurl a couple of crackers. There was a reverse-scoop for six off Farooqi among them, the other an act of follow-through of the bat bat towards a short ball, which Pujara ran down behind square leg for four. He had hobbled from the field for 120 with England needing 39 runs to win off 25 when he was fooled by Omarzai’s slower-ball bouncer.
Overton and Jofra Archer pulled England nearer still but, like a few who had gone before, the former played the wrong shot at the wrong time as he chipped Omarzai to long on with just 17 still to win from 14. With a wounded Mark Wood in at 11, the match had in been turned, decisively, once more on the day.
Brief scores:
Afghanistan 325/7 in 50 overs (Ibrahim Zadran 177, Azmatullah Omarzai 41; Jofra Archer 3-64) beat England 317 in 49.4 overs (Joe Root 120; Azmatullah Omarzai 5-58) by 8 runs.