LAHORE: Azmatullah Omarzai took five wickets, and Ibrahim Zadran scored a brilliant 177 as Afghanistan defeated England by 8 runs in a thrilling encounter at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore on Wednesday.
Chasing a target of 326, England were bundled out for 317 in the 50th over. Joe Root’s brilliant 120 off 111 balls went in vain.
Ben Duckett (38), Jos Buttler (38), Jamie Overton (32), Harry Brook (25) showed some resistance with the bat.
Jamie Smith (9), Liam Livingstone (10) and Phil Salt (12), Adil Rashid (5) failed to show any significant resistance with the bat.
Mark Wood (2) failed to show any significant resistance with the bat.
Earlier, Afghanistan opener Ibrahim Zadran made the highest individual score in the history of the Champions Trophy during the 8th match against England.
Despite the Afghanistan team facing an early hiccup, losing the first three wickets for just 31, Zadran not only showed his class with the bat, but also accelerated his gears and scored 177 runs off 146 balls, with the help of 12 fours and six sixes.
He scored runs with great flexibility and treated the England bowlers with utmost contempt.
Earlier on February 22, Ben Duckett scored 165 runs off 143 balls against Australia with the help of 17 fours and three sixes, which was the highest individual score in the history of the Champions Trophy before today, which Zadran broke.
