Afghanistan send England packing to keep semis hopes alive

LAHORE: Opener Ibrahim Zardan hammered a record breaking and personal best innings of 177 runs while Azmatullah Omarzai with a five-wicket haul helped Afghanistan clinch their nail-biting Champions Trophy encounter against spirited England by eight runs here at the Gaddafi Stadium on Wednesday.

In a high scoring game, Afghanistan posted 325 for seven and England fell short by producing 317 runs in 49.5 overs, leaving Joe Root century go in vain. Root fought all ends to keep England in the hunt, but loss of his wicket cost them the match and early exit.

Afghanistan that pushed England out of contention with a well-fought victory, now keep their hopes alive as all they require a win against Australia in their upcoming match tomorrow. England, which is eventually out of the tournament, will be flying back home after playing their last league match against South Africa in Karachi on March 1.

Chasing a 326 runs target, England was off to a jittery start, losing their two wickets at 30 in the seventh over. Phil Salt (12) was the first English victim and the first scalp of Azmatullah Omarzai while Jame Smith fell to Mohammad Nabi for nine. Thanks to Ben Duckett and Joe Root their score swelled gradually with their 68 runs partnership. They maintained the run-rate before they were separated by Rashid Khan at 98. Root and Harry Brook together added another 35 runs for the 4th wicket but Nabi for his second wicket struck in the 22nd over, reducing England to 133 for four.

Root, however, stood firm at the crease completing his 42nd half century, second successive of the tournament, which he transformed later in the innings into a century in 98 balls. He along with Captain Jos Buttler kept the score ticking. They kept England in the game, but Afghanistan pegged back with the wicket of Buttler for 38. And at 216 for five in the 37th over, England was again struggling.

England was further stressed when batter Liam Livingstone also lost his wicket to Gulbadin Naib for just 10 runs. Jamie Overton, however, supported Root to reach his century and with these two at the crease, England required 90 runs from the last 10 overs. They took the score to 287, it was when Afghanistan had an inroad with the key wicket of Root at 120 came in 111 balls. It was Omarzai’s third victim and England then needed 39 runs in 25 balls. It was Joe Root first century after 2019 World Cup, ton he scored against the West Indies.

Inexperienced Overton and Jofra Archer at the crease, it was anybody’s game. However, they kept rotating singles and doubles and hitting a boundary at times. With 17 required in 13 balls, Overton mistimed his hit and was out at 32. At 309 for eight, Jofra and Adil Rashid did their best to surpass the required deficit but Fazalhaq Farooqi for his first wicket of the match sent Jofra back to the pavilion. At that point in time, Adil and Mark Wood were looking to get 13 runs in the last over of Azmatullah, who allowed just four singles and in turn took the wicket of Adil to wrap up the match.

Azmatullah Omarzai chipped in with five wickets from 58 runs while Nabi had two for 57 and Fazalhaq Farooqi, Rashid Khan and Gulbadin Naib shared one wicket each.

Afghanistan that was off to a precarious beginning glided to stability and then to authoritative total all due to cautious and then pacy innings unleashed by Zardan midway through the game.

Zardan while scoring century also came up with three valuable partnerships -- first for the third wicket with skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi of 103 runs, second for the fifth wicket with Azmat Omarzai of 72 runs and the third sixth wicket with Mohammad Nabi of 111 runs. These three partnerships changed the complexion of the game otherwise Afghanistan was languishing at a very poor state. Zardan alongside his partners paced up the score in an otherwise pathetic start that had three batters down for just 37 runs by the ninth over.

As Afghanistan managed its 50 runs in 13.5 overs, 100 in 24.2 overs, and paced up the flow of runs from there on to 300-plus.

On his way to his record innings, Zadran was supported by Hashmatullah Shahidi (40), Azmatullah Omarzai (41), who hit four boundaries that included three sixes and Mohammad Nabi (40) and his three of the five boundaries landed across the ropes.

England that was already plagued with injuries dealt another injury scare as pacer Mark Wood walked off the field limping. After Brydon Carse was ruled out of the ICC Champions Trophy, Wood was seen limping midway through his spell in England’s second game of the tournament. Bowling his fourth over against Afghanistan, speedster Mark Wood was seen walking gingerly midway through the over. Even though the pacer returned back on the field to bowl an additional four overs, Wood was seen in discomfort later in the innings again, before he returned to the dressing room following the 43rd over.

English bowler Jofra Archer was the pick of the bowlers as he pushed Afghans to the wall in his opening spell. His to the line opening attack skittled three top order batters. Liam Livingstone was the second successful English bowler with two wickets while Jamie Overton and Adil Rashid shared one scalp apiece.

On Thursday, 27 February, Pakistan will take on Bangladesh at Rawalpindi while Gaddafi Stadium will host its next match on Friday, 28 February between Afghanistan and Australia.