Afghanistan beat England, set a target of 326 runs, Zadran played the biggest innings of CT

Newspunjab

27 feb 2025

Afghanistan scored 325 runs while batting first in the eighth match of the Champions Trophy 2025. Now, England will have to score 326 runs to stay alive in the semi-final race. The biggest hero of the Afghan team was Ibrahim Zadran, who played an unbeaten innings of 177 runs. Apart from them, captain Hashmatullah Shahidi, Mohammad Nabi and Azmatullah Umarzai also played short innings to take the team to a big score. Jofra Archer took the most wickets with 3 wickets for England.

In this match played at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore, Afghanistan won the toss and decided to bat first. This decision did not prove to be good at all in the beginning as the Afghan team lost 3 wickets at a score of 37. 

After this, Ibrahim Zadran joined captain Hashmatullah Shahidi to put on a 104-run partnership and brought his team back into the match. Shahidi scored 40 runs. After this, Zadran joined Azmatullah Umarzai to put on a quick 72-run partnership and finally joined Mohammad Nabi to put on a quick 111-run partnership.

Ibrahim Zadran has created many records by playing an innings of 177 runs in this match. He has become the first player to score a century for Afghanistan in the history of the Champions Trophy. Along with this, he has also become the player to score the highest individual score in the history of the Champions Trophy. Zadran hit 12 fours and 6 sixes in his innings of 177 runs.

This is the same ground where England had scored a historic score of 351 runs while playing earlier. In reply, Australia won the match by 5 wickets thanks to Josh English’s 120-run century. England and Afghanistan have lost their first matches in the 2025 Champions Trophy. Winning this match is very important for both the teams to stay alive in the semi-final race.