By Karan Agrawal 
Afghanistan registered their second consecutive win over England in ODI courtesy of an all-round performance in their second match of the 2025 Champions Trophy played in Lahore. Batting first after winning the toss Afghanistan was reduced to 39/3 after the end of the first powerplay with Jofra Archer picking all three wickets. The Afghan top order found it difficult to cope with the pace of Archer and Wood initially as they played and missed a lot of balls in the first hour of play and it appeared that the Jos Buttler-led side would be able to wrap the Afghanistan-batting lineup with relative ease but Ibrahim Zadran had other plans. The Afghan opener stitched a much-needed 103-run partnership for the fourth wicket with captain Hashmatullah Shahidi.
The Rebuild
The duo started cautiously by rotating the strike and picking singles courtesy of some sensible batting which involved pushing the balls in the gaps and putting pressure on the English fielders by converting singles into doubles and putting the bad deliveries away. Both Zadran and Shahidi latched on to England’s lack of wicket-taking ability in the middle overs and attacked their leading spinner Adil Rashid in an attempt to increase the scoring rate. Shahidi in particular was the aggressive of the two as he tried to slog Jamie Overton towards the boundary when he came to bowl in his second spell after the halfway stage of the first innings and succeeded in doing so as a result Overton was taken out of the attack after bowling a few overs.
The Approach
Ibrahim Zadran on the other hand anchored the innings well and completed a fighting half-century to take Afghanistan’s score to 140/3 after 30 overs before Shahidi was dismissed by Adil Rashid in an attempt to hit a boundary. Shahidi’s dismissal brought Azmatullah Omarzai to the crease and the right-hander kept the momentum going by hitting 41 runs off 31 balls and added crucial runs for the fifth wicket with Zadran who completed a well-deserved century and became the first Afghan batter to score a century in the Champions Trophy. The duo took Afghanistan’s score to 212/4 before Omarzai got out on the last ball of the 40th over.
The Finish
Mohammad Nabi who walked in after the fall of Omarzai’s wickets looked in total control of the preceding as he started his innings in his usual way by nudging the ball into the gaps and dispatching bad deliveries to the boundary which ensured that England had no chance of coming back into the match. The duo added 111 runs for the sixth wicket as Imbrahim crossed the 150-run mark and became the highest individual scorer in the history of the Champions Trophy with an innings of 177 which was also the highest score by an Afghan batter in the history of ODI cricket. Imbrahim’s innings ensured that Afghanistan posted an above-par total of 325 runs on a batting-friendly wicket in Lahore.
The Chase
Chasing 326 runs to win England got off to a horrible start as the Jos Buttler-led side lost two wickets for just 30 runs and were in desperate need of a partnership and that’s when Ben Duckett and Joe Root got together to add 68 runs for the third wicket which was followed by a crisp partnership of 35 runs for the fourth wicket between Joe Root and Harry Brook who was looking good to get a big score before giving a straightforward return catch to Mohammad Nabi against the run of play. Joe Root on the other hand completed a quick half-century as wickets kept falling at the other hand, The former England captain was well supported by captain Jos Buttler who picked up pace after a shaky start to his innings as it felt that the duo would take England home before Omarzai dismissed Buttler to bring the game in balance. Liam Livingstone who came to bat after Buttler’s wicket was unable to make a significant contribution and was dismissed by Gulbadin Naib who bowled two crucial overs at the backend of the England innings.
The Victory
Joe Root was the only ray of hope for England amidst the chaos as he marched towards his first ODI hundred since 2019 and the right-hander got good support in the form of Jamie Overton who chipped in with a crucial innings of 32 runs off 28 balls to take England close to the target. Joe Root who completed a solid hundred was dismissed after scoring 120 by Omarzai in an attempt to guide the ball towards third man. Root’s wicket was the last nail in the coffin for England’s hopes in the Champions Trophy. Afghanistan defended the score of 325 runs in the last over of the match with Omarzai taking five wickets to seal a memorable victory for his team.