Azmatullah Omarzai’s five and 177 from opener Ibrahim Zadran helped Afghanistan narrowly beat England in the Champions Trophy on Wednesday with an exciting eight-run score. In Lahore, Afghanistan scored 325-7 in a digital elimination match before dismissing England for 317 in 49.5 overs to keep their bid for a semi-final spot alive; England have no possibility of making it into the last four. England went down normal runs to drop their second consecutive One Day International to the Afghans after their upset loss at the 2023 World Cup in India, hence Joe Root’s 120 went in vain. With one wicket to spare, pace bowler Omarzai stayed cool to give only four runs and bowl Adil Rashid off the final six balls.
Under the dark cloud of boycott calls from some British officials regarding the condition of women in the Taliban-ruled nation, Afghanistan voted to bat in an attempt to recover from their initial South Africa defeat.
Inside nine overs, however, they fast fell to 37-3 before Zadran turned the innings around with a 103-run fourth-wicket stand with captain Hashmatullah Shahidi, who scored 40.
Later, Zadran hit 40 in 24 balls for the sixth wicket with Mohammad Nabi, then scored 111.
Zadran, 23, destroyed the bowling of England and surpassed his earlier ODI best of 162 in his 146-ball knock decorated with 12 fours and six sixes.
Days after Ben Duckett scored 165 in England’s first loss to Australia, he not only surpassed his own high individual ODI score for Afghanistan but also set a tournament record.
Shahidi stated, “I believe it was one of the finest ODI innings I have ever observed.&kip:”.
Eng suffered from Mark Wood&’s knee injury in the middle of his fourth over when the fast bowler left for a knee damage.
England were 30-2 after senior spinner Mohammad Nabi sent back Jamie Smith for nine on his first ball in response to two quick early wickets.
Rashid Khan got the left-handed opener lbw for 38, and Duckett tried to hit back in a 68-run stand with Root to stabilize the chase.
Harry Brook seemed fluent in his 25, but a soft dismissal to Nabi left him caught and bowled to further worsen England’s situation.
Root remained composed and along skipper Jos Buttler, who took time to set before hitting two sixes, added 83 runs to keep the chase going
Dot balls from Afghanistan bowlers maintained the pressure, and Liam Livingstone left shortly after Omarzai dismiss the captain for 38 off a top-edge catch at deep square-leg.
But Root persevered to score his first ODI hundred in nearly five years and 37 innings, and Jamie Overton kept chipping away steadily with standard boundaries.
Omarzai, on the other hand, had Root caught behind and therefore got the prized wicket.
“He had a most incredible knock tonight. The way to manage pressure in a run-chase,” Buttler offered.
“He needed one of the other top six batters to stay in with him and take the game further.”
As Omarzai dismissed Overton, the pendulum kept swinging; England went down last of the three teams to be eliminated in the eight-nation tournament after hosts Pakistan and Bangladesh notwithstanding Jofra Archer’s late push.