Mumbai, Feb 27 (IANS) The cricket world rose in effusive praise for the Afghanistan men’s cricket team, especially Ibrahim Zadran and Azmatullah Omarzai, as they played a stellar role in a stunning victory over former champions England in the Champions Trophy 2025 in Lahore on Wednesday.
Reduced to 37/3 in the first Power-play, Afghanistan rode on a brilliant 177 by Zadran, the highest individual score in the Champions Trophy, and crucial contributions by skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi (40), Mohammad Nabi (40) and Omarzai (41) to post a massive 325/7. Omarzai continued with his brilliant performance, claiming 5-58, the best bowling figures by an Afghan bowler as England was bowled out for 317 despite a valiant 120 by Joe Root.
“Brilliant from Afghanistan..Thoroughly deserved win…England just haven’t played good enough white-ball cricket for a couple of years. this result isn’t a surprise in these conditions,” wrote former England captain Michael Vaughan in a post on X, formerly Twitter.
The Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) hailed Omarzai’s display as “all-round performance at its best”.
“All-𝐑𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 p𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐛𝐞𝐬𝐭 – 𝟒𝟏 (𝟑𝟏) & 𝟓/𝟓𝟖. It was yet another special all-round performance outing for @AzmatOmarzay, who recorded his maiden five-wicket haul and was a key force to Afghanistan’s triumph over England!” said ACB on its official handle on X.
Former India captain and noted commentator Ravi Shastri also praised the Afghanistan team for its brilliant performance on Wednesday and also advised England to take playing in the Sub-Continent seriously.
“Afghanistan. You guys rock. Kammaaal Kaardi. For England. Take playing in the Sub-continent seriously with no excuses. Only then will you be recognised as a Team that can TRAVEL,” said Shastri.
There were some incredible scenes of celebration by the Afghanistan players at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore. Wednesday’s win would remind many of Afghanistan’s similar upset victory over England in the 2023 ODI World Cup at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi.
Afghanistan captain Hashmatullah Shahidi was elated by their performance and said the whole nation will be happy with this win. “As a team, we are happy, and I’m sure the whole nation will be happy with this win,” he said.
“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.”
“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 and what they should do in this team. Hopefully, we take this momentum with us for the next game against Australia,” said the Afghanistan skipper.
–IANS
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