Opener Ibrahim Zadran’s 177 and five wickets by Azmatullah Omarzai helped Afghanistan knock England out of the Champions Trophy with a thrilling eight-run victory on Wednesday.
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Afghanistan posted 325-7 in a virtual knockout tie in Lahore and then bowled out England for 317 in 49.5 overs to stay alive in the race for a semi-final place while England have no chance of reaching the last four.
Joe Root’s 120 went in vain as England lost regular wickets to lose their second straight ODI to the Afghans after their shock defeat in the 2023 World Cup in India.
Needing 13 off the last six balls with one wicket in hand, pace bowler Omarzai kept calm to give away just four runs and dismiss Adil Rashid.
Playing under the cloud of boycott calls from some British politicians over the plight of women in the Taliban-ruled nation, Afghanistan elected to bat in a bid to bounce back from their opening loss to South Africa.
But they soon slipped to 37-3 inside nine overs before Zadran pulled the innings together with a fourth-wicket partnership of 103 with skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi, who made 40.
Zadran later added 111 for the sixth wicket with Mohammad Nabi, who hit 40 in 24 balls.
Zadran, 23, took the England bowling apart and went past his previous ODI best of 162 in his 146-ball knock laced with 12 fours and six sixes.
He not only broke his own record for Afghanistan’s highest individual ODI score but also a tournament record, days after Ben Duckett’s 165 in England’s opening loss to Australia.
– ‘One of the best innings’ –
“I think it was one of the best ODI innings I have ever seen,” said Shahidi.
Mark Wood’s injury in the middle of his fourth over hampered England as the fast bowler managed just eight overs and went off with a knee issue.
In reply, England lost two early wickets to be 30-2 after senior spinner Mohammad Nabi struck with his first ball to send back Jamie Smith for nine.
Duckett attempted to hit back in a 68-run stand with Root to steady the chase but Rashid Khan trapped the left-handed opener lbw for 38.
Harry Brook looked fluent in his 25 but fell caught and bowled to Nabi in a soft dismissal to further put England in trouble.
Root kept calm and along with skipper Jos Buttler, who took time to settle before hitting two sixes, put on 83 runs to keep the chase going.
Afghanistan bowlers kept up the pressure with dot balls and Omarzai got the skipper out for 38 off a top edge caught at deep square-leg and Liam Livingstone departed soon after.
But Root hung on as he reached his first ODI ton in almost five years and 37 innings and with Jamie Overton kept chipping away with regular boundaries.
But Omarzai got the prized wicket as he had Root caught behind. “He played an unbelievable innings tonight. The way to handle pressure in a run-chase,” said Buttler.
“He needed one of the other top six batters to stay in with him and take the game deeper.” The pendulum kept swinging as Omarzai dismissed Overton but despite Jofra Archer’s late push England went down as the third team to be eliminated in the eight-nation tournament after hosts Pakistan and Bangladesh.
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