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Afghanistan held their nerves to seal a thrilling eight-run victory over England in their league stage clash of the 2025 Champions Trophy on Wednesday in Lahore. The win kept them in the race to the semifinal, while England have been knocked out of the mega event.
Although, England put Afghanistan under pressure at 37/3, Ibrahim Zadran (177 off 146) stitched important partnerships with Hashmatullah Shahidi (40), Azmatullah Omarzai (41) and Mohammad Nabi (40). As a result, Afghanistan posted a daunting total of 325 on the board.
In response, England were not off to a strong start, as they lost two wickets inside the first seven overs. Although, Joe Root (120) played a terrific knock, and got support from Jos Buttler (38) and Jamie Overton (32), they were all-out for 317.
In the post-match press conference, Afghanistan head coach Jonathan Trott lauded Ibrahim Zadran for his imperious knock, and Omarzai and Nabi for their brilliant cameos.
Trott feels with experience and match awareness, this Afghanistan side will only improve in the coming games. The former England batter also stated that the “self-belief” has also worked wonders for the side in the last few years.
“I think obviously this fight but there’s a resilience to them – to all of them. And I think if you add to some cricketing experience and cricketing match awareness with regards to batting in particular, with regards to how you pace the innings, we saw Ibrahim the way that he’s done today, we’ve seen Gurbaz do it in the past, and we’ve seen various players come in, that it’s not always down to one person. So that self-belief is important and it starts within, but it’s also quite infectious and it spreads within the squad.”
Despite a confidence-boosting victory, Trott thinks the team’s focus should be on their must-win game against Australia on Friday.
“Enjoy tonight…as soon as they wake up tomorrow, the focus is on Australia.”
Afghanistan have an experience of beating Australia in 2024 T20 World Cup
Afghanistan will be confident ahead of their last group stage clash against Australia in the Champions Trophy. It is due to their form and the result of their last clash against Australia.
Under the leadership of Rashid Khan, Afghanistan posted a 148-run total against Australia in 2024 T20 World Cup. Openers Rahmanullah Gurbaz (60) and Ibrahim Zadran (52) were the top-scorers for the side, as they stitched a 118-run stand.
Thereafter, Gulbadin Naib (4/20) was the pick of the bowlers for Afghanistan, as they bundled out Australia for 127 to win the game by 21 runs.
