Afghanistan beat England by 8 runs in Lahore on Wednesday to keep themselves alive in the Champions Trophy. It was a must-win game for both teams with Afghanistan prevailing in the end and knocking England out of the tournament.
It was a match where Afghanistan found many new heroes. They won the toss and opted to bat first. Ibrahim Zadran scored a mammoth century to take his team to 325/7 at the end of their 50 overs.
Afghanistan skipper Hasmatullah Shahidi (40 off 67), Azmatullah Omarzai (41 off 31) and Mohammad Nabi (40 off 37) played their part in taking the score past 300. Meanwhile, Ibrahim broke all sorts of records with his century which finally came in a winning cause in a tense knockout game.
Tough Day For England Bowlers In Lahore
For the England bowlers, it was a tough day on the park. Jofra Archer picked three early wickets but since then it was hard work for the England bowlers in the latter half of the game. Mark Wood limped off with knee injury concerns. Barring Liam Livingstone all other England bowlers had an economy rate of over six in the match.
England were under the pump right from the start in the chase. They lost Phil Salt (12 off 13) early in the chase. Ben Duckett (38 off 45) added 68 runs with Joe Root (120 off 111) for the third wicket. Once the partnership was broken, Root added 83 runs off 91 deliveries with Jos Buttler (38 off 42).
Buttler was dismissed in the 37th over of the England innings with the side still requiring over 100 runs. Jamie Overton (32 off 28) then added 54 runs for the seventh wicket with Joe Root who scored his first ODI century since 2019 and his 17th overall.
Azmatullah Omarzai Takes 5 With The Ball After Scoring 41 With The Bat
Once Root was dismissed in the 46th over, Afghanistan found an opening to make a comeback and they kept their nerves in the end. Azmatullah Omarzai bowled the last over with England requiring 13 to win off the final over. In the end, Afghanistan won the match by 8 runs to register an emphatic victory and knock England out of the tournament in the process.
Zadran for his mammoth 177 was named the Player Of The Match. His ton overshadowed Joe Root's in what was a memorable win for the Afghans. Meanwhile, this was England's sixth loss on the trot in ODIs in recent times.
"That 177 is a special moment for me. We have played here last time in Asia Cup, so I had the idea. I wanted to take time and play proper cricketing shots and that worked for me so I’m happy. When you win a game, it gives you a lot of energy and it gives you confidence. We will try to play even better play in the next game. We will be playing against Australia so we will try to do as less mistakes as possible. We will have a plan and do our best" said Zadran in his post-match presentation comments.
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