England knocked out of Champions Trophy as Afghanistan wins by 8 runs

Afghanistan has produced yet another shocker at an ICC event and they have hunted down the same prey - England at the Champions Trophy. Repeating their performance of the 2023 World Cup, the Afghans managed to pull off an 8-run victory at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore.

Chasing 326, England were bundled out for 317. Earlier, Afghanistan was in tatters losing three wickets in the powerplay but that didn't stop Zadran from playing a blinder at the Gaddafi Stadium. He smashed 177 in 146 balls. Hashmatullah Shahidi (40), Azmatullah Omarzai (41), and Mohammad Nabi (40) also played handy cameos to help Zadran push Afghanistan's total over 300.

For England, Joe Root provided the fuel in the run chase with his 120 (111) but other batters couldn't manage to get anything over 40. Azmatullah, who played a decent knock proved key during the defense of Afghanistan by picking up 5 wickets with an economy of under 6. Mohammad Nabi picked up 2 wickets.

With this loss, England is officially out of the Champions Trophy 2025 while Afghanistan has one more match to go, and if they win the match against the mighty Australia, they will qualify for the semifinal. However, the memories of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 will surely haunt them when they lose the quarterfinal match. Glenn Maxwell, with one leg injured, played an outstanding knock of 201. Will Afghanistan be able to break the shackles this time? All eyes will be on the next game at the same venue on February 28.