Afghanistan participated in their maiden ICC Champions Trophy event. They made their participation historic and remarkable by beating England and securing 5th position among eight teams in the event.
The ICC Champions Trophy and Qualification Process:
The ICC Champions trophy is held and played in every four years among the top eight teams. The event is played in ODI format and considered as the second major event in the format on global level. Looking at the quality of game and strength of participating teams, the event is more crucial than world cup because it is participated by only eight top teams and each team faces another strong team in the match that makes the game more interesting and valuable for the viewers and fans.
It is more difficult than World Cup to qualify to this event and mostly big teams could not qualify to the event. The qualification process to Champions Trophy 2025 started in 2023 ODI World Cup where the top eight team were declared to participate the Champions Trophy.
The Afghanistan national cricket team performed really well in ODI World Cup 2023. Afghanistan won four matches and beat mighty teams as England, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Netherland and secured 6th position among the 10 participant in the event and through their historic performance directly made in to the ICC Champions Trophy 2025.
In addition to Afghanistan, Australia the 2023 ODI World Cup Champions, India the runners up the world cup, South Africa, New Zealand, England, Bangladesh and Pakistan as (Event Host) found the way to play in Champions Trophy 2025.
Four other good teams as West Indies, Sri Lanka, Ireland and Zimbabwe were not able to make it to the event and did not participate Champions Trophy.
Afghanistan’s qualification to their first ever Champions Trophy after brilliant performance in 2023 ODI world cup was widely praised by ICC and cricket analysts around the world as it was a great and historic achievement for the team.
Afghanistan Squad & Preparation
The Afghan squad for Champions Trophy was announced a month prior to the event. The squad included 15 players with 3 reserved ones led by Hashmatullah Shahidi. The squad’s member AM Ghazanfar was replaced by Nangyal Kharoty from reserve list due to back injury.
The other players in the squad were Rahmat Shah, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Ikram Alikhel, Ibrahim Zadran, Sediqullah Atal, Azmatullah Omerzai, Mohammad Nabi, Gulbadin Naib, Rashid Khan, Noor Ahmad, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Farid Ahmad Malik, and Naveed Zadran. The reserve list included Bilal Sami and Darwish Rasooli.
The Afghanistan Cricket Board had planned a year with multiple bilateral ODI series to prepare the team for Champions Trophy. The team played bilateral series by traveling to Sri Lanka and hosting Ireland, South Africa, Bangladesh and Zimbabwe. Except Sri Lanka, Afghanistan won all the other Series and got well-prepared for the Champions Trophy.
In addition to bilateral cricket, the team had to preparation camps. The first one was held from February 1 to 11th in UAE while the second one started on Feb 13 in Pakistan that included two warm up matches against Pakistan A on Feb 14 and New Zealand on 16 during the period. Afghanistan lost both the warm up matches but had a good fight and preparation in the matches. Afghanistan had scored 305 runs in the warm up match against New Zealand that included the great inning of Rahmanullah Gurbaz scoring century in that match.
Afghanistan Official Matches in Champions Trophy:
Afghanistan was part of Group B in Champions Trophy along with three other strong teams as South Africa, England and Australia. Afghanistan played its first game against South Africa on February 21 in Karachi. Winning the toss and opting to bat first, South Africa set a huge target of 316. Despite the fantastic batting knock of Rahmat Shah who scored 90 runs, Afghanistan could not chase down the target and lost the match by 107 runs.
In the second match, Afghanistan faced England in Lahore on 26th of February and beat England, recording their first historic victory in the Champions Trophy.
Afghanistan won the toss and opted to bat first and set a huge target of 326 runs with the outstanding batting innings of Ibrahim Zadran who set many records, scoring 177 runs and batted till 49th over of the innings. He was accompanied by some handy partnerships of Hashmatullah Shahidi, Azmatullah Omerzai and Mohammad Nabi.
This was the highest individual score by an Afghan batter in the format. It was Ibrahim who previously held this record too with 162 runs. His 177 runs innings was the highest individual score of Champions Trophy history as well.
England were all out in the chase scoring 317 runs and losing the match to Afghanistan with 8 runs. Azmatullah Omerzai was leading the bowling unit with outstanding performance of taking 5 wickets and registering his first 5-wicket haul in the format and the event. Ibrahim Zadran was named player of the match.
Afghanistan win over England was widely praised as it was the second time Afghanistan beat them in the format. Formerly, Afghanistan had beaten them in ICC 2023 ODI World Cup.
On 28th February, Afghanistan stepped in the ground for their 3rd match against Australia. Winning the toss, Afghanistan chose to bat first. This time, it was Sediqullah Atal who stepped up and played an excellent knock of 85 runs. The rest of the wickets fell down fast as Azmatullah once again delivered great performance and scored 67 runs and helped in putting a respectable total of 273 runs in the match.
When Australia started the chase, they had scored 109/1 in 12.5 overs when the match was interrupted and later called off due to persistent showers. Eventually, both teams were given 1,1 points as per the event rules.
Even though, Afghanistan could not make to the semi final of the event but secured 5th position with 3 points that is considered as a great achievement of Afghanistan team in their first ever Champions Trophy participation.
Afghan Performers in the event
The opener Ibrahim Zadran was leading Afghan batter who scored 216 runs with the average of 72 including a century. The dashing all-rounder Azmatullah Omerzai was second leading scorer with 126 runs, Rahmat Shah with 106 runs was third while Sediqullah Atal with 105 runs was the fourth scorer.
In bowling, Azmatullah Omerzai was at the top of the list with 7 wickets to his name. Mohammad Nabi with 4 and Fazalhaq Farooqi with 2 wickets were part of the wicket takers for Afghanistan.
Afghanistan, the Second-Best team of the Asia
After outstanding performances in the ICC last two world cups and Champions Trophy, the cricket experts, analysts and former players have named Afghanistan the second-best team of the Asia in cricket. In these three events (ICC ODI World Cup 2023. ICC T2OI World Cup 2024 and ICC Champions Trophy 2025) Afghanistan wins and consistent performance make it the second-best team in the Asia after India. During the matches of these three major events, Afghanistan have won 10 out of 19 played matches which is the second highest number after India. Pakistan have won 6 of their 15 matches. Bangladesh have won 5 of their 18 while Sri Lanka have won 3 of their 12 matches played during the events.
Playing against full-member teams, Afghanistan have 7 wins, Pakistan 4, Bangladesh 3 and Sri Lanka only one. Moreover, Afghanistan is the only team to reach semi final in an ICC event in the above listed teams. Sri Lanka even could not find the way to play in Champions Trophy. This all makes Afghanistan the second-best team of the Asia in ODI and T20I cricket after India.
South Africa legendry Fast Bowler Dale Steyn who is part of ICC commentary Panel heaps praises for Afghanistan team rapid improvement. He adds that Afghanistan has been improving rapidly, if they pay little bit more attention to some parts and temperament in batting, they are able to win an ICC tournament in this decade. World’s cricket experts and analysts’ belief in Afghanistan team is the result of Afghanistan best and consistent performances. With these performances, Afghanistan not only proved their capabilities but also proved that they are a major part of international cricket and are able to beat any strong team in the world.
