England lost to Afghanistan by an unexpected eight runs on Wednesday, and despite Joe Root’s brilliant century under trying circumstances, he was unable to prevent England’s elimination from the Champions Trophy.
Pacer Azmatullah Omarzai’s fifer and Ibrahim Zadran’s magnificent 177 overshadowed Joe Root’s brilliant century as the valiant Afghanistan recorded an exciting 8-run victory to eliminate a rather unimpressive England from the Champions Trophy on Wednesday. South Africa, who already have three points together with Australia, will play England in their last league game in Group B. England has lost both of their previous games. With two points now, Afghanistan needs to defeat the Australians in their penultimate group game to have a chance at making it to the round of eight. The early dismissals of Jamie Smith and Phil Salt disrupted England’s chase, which for a long time just rattled along.Pacer Omarzai (5/58) hit at key moments, putting them at 30 for two at that point and ultimately at 317 all out with a ball to spare.
However, Root (120, 111b, 11×4, 1×6) stabilized England’s innings with two partnerships, with an 83-run partnership with captain Jos Buttler for the fifth wicket and 68-run partnership with Ben Duckett (38), who was dropped on 29.
They kept England afloat by staying close to the asking rate, even though they weren’t particularly innovative partnerships.
However, the early departure of Duckett and Buttler put a stop to those promising joint endeavors, leaving Root to bear the responsibility alone.
Root’s innings was shrewd because he rarely whacked a ball out of rage while maintaining a strike-rate that was near to and occasionally above 100.A reverse sweep four from wrist spinner Noor Ahmad or a scooped six behind wicketkeeper Fazalhaq Farooqi are two examples of the small touches that are crucial to a Root innings.
He looked to stay on after hitting Rashid Khan for a single to reach his 17th ODI hundred. However, keeper Rahmanullah Gurbaz ended up with a fairly worn-out ramp-off from pacer Omarzai.
Although Omarzai’s weak heave terminated his spell, England had another eager soldier in Jamie Overton (32, 28b), who contributed a valuable 54 runs for the seventh wicket.
England’s participation in this competition came to an end as well.Prior to then, Afghanistan amassed 325 for seven thanks to Zadran’s outstanding innings.
Azmatullah Omarzai (41, 31b) and captain Hashmathullah Shahidi (40, 67b, 3×4) provided Zadran with strong support as he milked 72 runs for the fifth wicket and built 103 runs for the fourth wicket with Shahidi, whose father’s century came off 146 balls (12×4, 6×6).
Later, he exploited England by scoring 111 runs for the sixth wicket alongside Mohammed Nabi (40, 24b).
But after Afghanistan decided to bat first, their start to a game they had to win was completely off the mark. They were severely hampered within the first ten overs by Jofra Archer’s (3/64) precision and speed, which was a batting beauty.Sediquallah Atal was stuck in front, Rahmat Shah sent a straight shot to Adil Rashid at square leg, and Rahmanullah Gurbaz dragged an Archer delivery back onto his stumps while trying a drive as the Afghans fell to 37 for three inside the Power Play.
With Shahidi at his side, Zadran started the repairs, and they were naturally cautious.
However, Zadran opened up even more after hitting 50 off 65 balls, hitting two fours against Jamie Overton to indicate that the game was changing direction.
Shahidi, however, was bowled when he attempted to reverse sweep leg-spinner Rashid, whose front-of-arm delivery struck the stumps with a smash.However, as England was hit by double-barrel fire, Zadran thrived alongside Omarzai.
Mark Wood, a pacer for England, suffered a knee injury during the Afghan innings and bowled just eight overs despite being out of action for a while.
Zadran, who brought up his sixth ODI hundred off 106 balls, then fell into overdrive, slamming Overton for 6, 4, 4, in an over.
Despite Omarzai’s departure, the 23-year-old continued to dominate Archer, hitting him for 6, 4, 4, 4 to reach the 150-run milestone for the second time in his career.In addition to veteran batsman Nabi, Zadran contributed fast runs for the sixth wicket at almost 11 runs per over as England collapsed in the last 10 overs, giving up 113 runs. In the last over, Zadran was finally dismissed by Liam Livingstone.
