The winning moment for Afghanistan couldn’t have been scripted better in Lahore. Azmatullah Omarzai picked up his fifth wicket to go with his crucial 41. The ball went to Ibrahim Zadran at long off who held onto the catch. He had batted from the start of the Afghanistan innings till the last over earlier in the afternoon for a record-breaking 177 off 146 balls, now the highest individual score in Champions Trophy history as well as for Afghanistan in this format.
As Adil Rashid was dismissed, Afghanistan made back-to-back wins against England in ICC ODI events, after having defeated the then-reigning World Champions in the 2023 World Cup in Delhi. Chasing 326 to stay alive in the tournament, England fell short by 8 runs at the Gaddafi Stadium and will be exiting another ICC event early.
As long as Joe Root was in the middle, England hoped. Batting on 99, he tapped the ball through square leg and took off, desperately wanting a second run, more than reaching a ton. As he completed the milestone, he stretched his legs before acknowledging the applause briefly, and without any over-the-top celebrations. He knew England were on the brink of losing if he didn’t finish the job there. While his strokeplay continued to be impeccable, it was now down to sheer will. After reducing the equation down once more with a boundary in the 46th over, Root put his head down and ran a double. He was gasping for breath at this point, the body was being pushed to the limits. Could he have maybe, for a conservative option, settled for a single that ball? Jamie Overton was proving to be an able partner at the other end after all.
Omarzai read the situation. The allrounder, who was named 2024’s ICC Men’s ODI Cricketer of the Year, dug in a short ball, Root arched his overloaded body backward and tried to ramp it over the wicketkeeper’s head. But the tired limbs meant he could only glove it to wicketkeeper Rahmanullah Gurbaz. In hindsight, that was the clincher for Afghanistan as Root trudged back to the dressing room – at the slowest walking pace one can imagine – out on 120, out of gas.
Omarzai kept picking up the crucial wickets all night. He struck early, Phil Salt removed after only sprinkling the match with a couple of boundaries for taste. With the match entering near even territory in the 37th over, Omarzai got rid of the England captain. Jos Buttler too fell to a delivery that was dug into the pitch and the pull shot was miscued, landing straight into the hands of deep square leg. Then, of course, came Root’s wicket. Even after that, Overton kept England on course to sneak past the finish line and Omarzai had him caught at long on. The Adil Rashid wicket was the icing on the cake.
All’s well that ends well for Afghanistan, but they were off to a rough start. At a venue where Australia chased down more than 350, it was a brave call from Hashmatullah Shahidi to bat first. But he was backing what his side were good at. Chasing hasn’t been Afghanistan’s strong suit, so he stuck to that. But with Jofra Archer moving the ball back in, Mark Wood shaping it away – both men doing it at red-hot speeds – Afghanistan’s top order struggled, losing three wickets in the first 10 overs, all to Archer.
Steadying hand
But up stepped Zadran and how. In Shahidi, he then found a steadying hand as Afghanistan rebuilt their innings. With the run rate ticking over 4.0 at the halfway stage, Zadran played one of the shots of the afternoon as he lofted Overton down the ground for a glorious four. The next over from the right-arm pacer went for 16 runs as Ibrahim hit another straight six, this time a power swat off a short ball, then followed it up with two well-timed fours on the leg side. In their 100-run partnership, the first 50 runs came off 80 balls while the next 50 took just 49.
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After losing Shahidi, Zadran found another able ally in Omarzai who came out with plenty of intent and didn’t let the momentum slip. And when he fell at the start of the last 10, Mohammed Nabi didn’t waste time to get going as well. The turning point came when England started leaking runs in the death overs, the chaos of losing Wood to an injury in the 43rd, with two overs of his quota still left didn’t help Buttler. Zadran recognised the opening and shifted gears once more, plundering 20 runs off the 44th that was bowled by Archer. Root had to bowl the 47th over and Nabi made the most of that too. “England are falling apart in Lahore,” said former captain Mike Atherton on air, prophetically as it turned out.
In the last 10 overs, Afghanistan scored 113/2 and when even 280+ looked improbable not long back, Zadran and Co had powered them to a winning total.
