Afghanistan knock England out of ICC Champions Trophy

In a champion's trophy match held in Pakistan, the Afghanistan team defeated England by 8 runs, eliminating them from advancing. The result of this match was shocking and also marked a significant improvement in the strength of the Afghanistan cricket team.

Opening batsman Ibrahim Zadran contributed an epic 177 runs for the Afghanistan team, who were participating in the tournament for the first time, laying the foundation for their narrow victory in the thrilling Group B match held at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore on Wednesday. Zadran's outstanding performance helped Afghanistan overcome Jofra Archer's early three wickets, eventually achieving a score of 7-325.

Zadran stated, "This means a lot to me... Just as you work hard, I trust myself. I wanted to bat for a longer time. This 177 is a special moment for me." He also added, "We will strive to play better in the next game. We will play against Australia, and we will try to avoid making too many mistakes. We will develop a plan."

Joe Root's 120 runs kept England alive in the chase until the 46th over. However, the Afghanistan team continuously took wickets, ultimately dismissing them for 317 runs with one ball remaining in the match. Jonathan Agnew of BBC Radio commented, "A few years ago, you might have said losing to Afghanistan was like England slipping on a banana peel. But they are a team that has made great progress, and their strength is now on par with the best white-ball cricket teams."

Agnew continued, "This is the second time they have defeated England in an International Cricket Council (ICC) event... They performed excellently, rebounding from their disappointment against South Africa. The dismissals of Phil Salt and Jamie Smith were shocking for England. When you are chasing such a large target, you cannot afford to lose wickets early, and that is exactly what England did. Phil Salt made a feeble swing at a good length ball, and Jamie Smith, I cannot understand for a second what was going through his mind."

England were eliminated after suffering their second consecutive loss in this tournament, and Jos Buttler faces the risk of losing his captaincy after another poor International Cricket Council (ICC) event as captain. Buttler stated at the awards ceremony, "I don't want to make any emotional statements right now. For myself and the people at the top, we should consider all possibilities. We need to consider all possibilities to get the England cricket team back to where we should be in white-ball cricket. Personally, I need to figure out if I am part of the problem or part of the solution?"

The Afghanistan team also defeated England in the Cricket World Cup held in India in 2023. Afghanistan captain Hashmatullah Shahidi stated, "As a team, we are happy. I know the whole country will be happy. The strength of our team is that we have talented young players, and we also have experienced players who are at the top of their game. Hopefully, we can carry this momentum into the next match against Australia."

Archer took three wickets after Shahidi chose to bat. Prior to this, several British politicians hoped that the England team would boycott the match due to restrictions on women's rights in Afghanistan under Taliban rule. Rahmanullah Gurbaz dragged the ball onto his own wicket, Sediqullah Atal was trapped, and Rahmat Shah was dismissed, causing the Afghanistan team to teeter at 37-3 in the ninth over.

Zadran partnered with Shahidi (40 runs) to achieve a score of 103, supporting the Afghanistan team, while Azmatullah Omarzai (41 runs) and Mohammad Nabi (40 runs) also contributed useful cameos later in the match. Zadran used 106 balls to complete his sixth ODI century and surpassed England's opening batsman Ben Duckett's 165 runs against Australia on Saturday, becoming the highest individual score in the history of the tournament. His blitz of 146 balls, including 6 sixes and 12 fours, earned Zadran the title of Player of the Match.

The England team appeared disheveled at the end of the Afghanistan innings, with mistakes and injuries to Mark Wood and Liam Livingstone exacerbating their problems. Wood limped off the field after bowling 8 wicketless overs, but Livingstone returned to bowl a tidy, two-wicket final over. England had a poor start in their response, losing Phil Salt and Jamie Smith within seven overs.

Duckett (38 runs) was missed a chance by Shahidi in the middle overs, but he failed to take full advantage. Harry Brook (25 runs) and Buttler (38 runs) failed to convert their starts into higher scores, but Root scored at a run-a-ball pace despite struggling with cramps later in the match. Omarzai ended Root's brilliant performance with impressive figures of 5-58 when the batsman attempted to play a ramp shot and was caught.

Jamie Overton scored 32 runs, and the limping Wood also returned to bat, but the England team ultimately fell short of the target by a narrow margin. Former England spinner Vic Marks stated, "This may be an unpopular view, but if you don't play any 50-over matches other than international matches, you may not be very good at it. Look at Joe Root, he played a perfect 50-over innings. But the bowlers, if you build your team on T20 form and experience, they are not used to bowling 10 overs."

Marks added, "It also comes down to focus. Someone like Phil Salt has had some good starts this winter, and if you do that in T20, you've done your job. But if this happens repeatedly in ODIs, losing wickets early puts a lot of pressure on the rest of the batting order. It's a very, very different game to T20 cricket, and you have to play it differently - I don't think many of the England players recognize that."

The Afghanistan team, coached by former England batsman Jonathan Trott, must defeat Australia on Friday to reach the semi-finals and secure their second consecutive semi-final appearance in an International Cricket Council (ICC) event, having also reached the same stage in last year's T20 World Cup. A victory for Australia will secure their place in the semi-finals; however, if Australia loses, coupled with a South African victory over England on Saturday, it will mean Australia's elimination.

Currently, Australia and South Africa are tied with three points, but South Africa leads on net run rate (2.140 vs 0.475), while Afghanistan has two points and a net run rate of negative 0.990.