"As a team we are happy and I'm sure the whole nation will be happy with this win," said a beaming Hashmatullah Shahidi after Afghanistan registered a historic eight-run against former World Champions England in a crucial league match of the Champions Trophy 2025 at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore on Wednesday.
Ibrahim Zadran and Azmatullah Omarzai were stars of Afghanistan's incredible day as the former struck a maiden hundred in the Champions Trophy while Omarzai came up with a brilliant all-round performance to hand England their second defeat in the competition and end their hopes of reaching the semis.
After Zadran struck a sensational 177, the highest individual score in the Champions Trophy, surpassing the 165 by England's Ben Duckett against Australia earlier in the event, to help Afghanistan reach a formidable total of 325/7 in 50 overs.
England made early inroads with Jofra Archer’s fiery new-ball spell, reducing Afghanistan to 37/3, but a crucial 103-run stand between Zadran (177, 146b, 12x4, 6x6) and skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi (40) steadied the innings. Late cameos from Azmatullah Omarzai (41) and Mohammad Nabi (40) powered Afghanistan to a strong finish, as England’s attack struggled, conceding 113 runs in the final 10 overs.
Azmatullah Omarzai then delivered the best-ever bowling figures for Afghanistan in an ICC ODI tournament, claiming 5 for 58 to surpass previous records held by Mohammad Nabi (4-30 vs Sri Lanka, 2019), Fazalhaq Farooqi (4-34 vs Sri Lanka, 2023), and Shapoor Zadran (4-34 vs Scotland, 2015).
Despite a valiant 120 by Joe Root (11b, 11x4, 1x6) and crucial 38 by Ben Duckett and Jos Buttler (38), England fell short by eight runs, bowled out for 317 in 49.5 balls as they slumped to their second successive defeat in Champions Trophy 2025.
With this England’s struggles in ODI cricket continued as they slumped to their sixth consecutive defeat, their worst losing streak since September 2009.
The match also featured one of the highest aggregates in Champions Trophy history, with a combined total of 642 runs — Afghanistan’s 325/7 followed by England’s 317. This made it the third-highest aggregate game in the tournament’s history, behind England vs Australia (707 runs, Lahore 2025) and India vs Sri Lanka (643 runs, The Oval 2017).
Afghanistan captain Hashmatullah Shahidi was elated as Afghanistan defeated England for the second time in an ICC 50-over event, after their 69-run win in the 2023 World Cup in New Delhi.
The first time we beat them in the 2023 World Cup. I keep saying that we are improving day by day as a team, and that's what we've shown at the last couple of World Cups. Today it was a tense game, but we controlled it really well. I'm happy with the result.
He said the Afghanistan team's strength was the balance of talented youngsters and senior players.
"The beauty of our team is we have talented youngsters and at the same time, we have senior guys who are at the top level. Everyone knows their own roles of what they should do in this team. Hopefully, we take this momentum with us for the next game against Australia.
They had started the Champions Trophy with a big defeat to South Africa but have bounced back with a sensational victory over England. If they ride the momentum and cause an upset against Australia, Afghanistan will qualify for the semifinals with two wins, taking forward their brilliant performances in ICC events in the last few years.
