Despite Joe Root’s valiant hundred, England slipped to an eight-run loss to Afghanistan, in a Champions Trophy game played in Lahore. With that loss, England bowed out of the competition. For Afghanistan, Ibrahim Zadran turned out to be the cornerstone of the victory, aggregating a splendid 146-ball 177. Azmatullah Omarzai also played a major role by bagging a five-for and scoring 41 off 31 deliveries.
The problem for England was that they lost wickets at key moments. Harry Brook and Root stitched a stand of 35, before the former fell to a soft dismissal. When Jos Buttler and Root were at the crease, England seemed to be on course. However, once again, England lost a wicket in the form of Buttler for 38. Root and Jamie Overton then stitched a stand of 54 before Root himself was dismissed to a shortish delivery that kicked up a bit from Omarzai.
Overton, who seemed as if was controlling the chase, was dislodged on the back of lofting one to long-on. Fazalhaq Farooqi and Omarzai then provided the finishing touches by bagging the wickets of Jofra Archer and Adil Rashid. Omarzai ended up with figures of 5 for 58 from 9.5 overs.
Earlier, Zadran had essayed a remarkable innings to steer Afghanistan out of troubled waters. Archer had put Afghanistan in a spot of bother at 39 for 3, but Zadran strung together stands of 103, 72 and 101 with Shahidi, Omarzai and Mohammad Nabi, respectively, to not just help Afghanistan recover but also give them the upper hand.
In fact, in the last 10 overs, Afghanistan collected a whopping 113 runs. Zadran, who was dismissed in the final over, cracked as many as 12 fours and six sixes. Afghanistan, who are still in the race to qualify for the last-four, will now meet Australia on February 28, in Lahore.
Brief scores: Afghanistan 325/6 in 50 overs (Ibrahim Zadran 177; Jofra Archer 2-64) beat England 317 in 49.5 overs (Joe Root 120; Azmatullah Omarzai 5-58) by 8 runs.
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