The World Cricket witnessed a breath-taking match between England & Afghanistan on 26th February at Lahore. Afghanistan snatched victory from the jaws of defeat against England and won the match by a mere 8 runs. Jos Buttler’s brigade got kicked out of ICC Champions Trophy 2025 after this defeat. Let’s explore the reasons for England’s defeat
(1) Mark Wood injury & over-dependency on express pace
Afghanistan were quite happy to bat first after winning the toss. Jofra Archer produced a lightning spell in powerplay overs & got rid of Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Sediqullah Atal & Rahmat Shah cheaply. Afghanistan was reduced to 37-3 in 8.5 overs and were in a precarious position.
Hashmatullah Shahidi along with Ibrahim Zadra did the rebuilding work. The pitch wasn’t treacherous but English bowlers showed a lot of discipline with the new ball. Ibrahim Zadran anchored the innings & looked as if he was on a mission. Ibrahim Zadran negated the threat of Jofra Archer who was bowling pinpoint bouncers in the middle overs phase. Pace on deliveries weren’t troubling the batters as the ideology of threatening with extra pace and short ball barrages wasn’t productive.
At the end of 40 overs Afghanistan’s score was 212-5. Mark Wood who was bowling 43rd over pulled his hamstring at the end of the over. Due to which Joe Root was forced to bowl 48th over in which he was taken to cleaners by Zadran & Nabi who scored 23 runs in that over. Afghanistan got the impetus & scored 113 runs in the last 10 overs and put on a challenging 325-7 on board.
(2) Ultra-attacking cricket backfires
England needed a strong foundation to get past the target of 325 runs. Australia had chased the highest ever target of 352 runs in ICC event against England at the same venue Lahore on 22nd February. Phil Salt started to assert his dominance from the word go. Azmatullah duped him with shorter delivery and while playing a pull shot he was bowled.
The decision to promote Jamie Smith at No.3 position didn’t work this time as well who wanted to dominate Nabi in 7th over and on very first delivery & had stepped down but only to mistime it out at point region. Jamie Smith has scores of 15 against Australia & 9 against Afghanistan which are not so good for a No.3 batter who is often considered to be the pillar of batting line up. England scored 60 runs in powerplay overs for 2 wickets.
(3) Lack of fight from English batters apart from Joe Root
Joe Root along with Ben Duckett tried to put the run chase back on track. The strategy of Hashmatullah Shahid was quite simple, to rotate, Nabi, Rashid & Noor as all 3 spinners have different skills.
Rashid Khan in 17th over got rid of the dangerous looking Ben Duckett by trapping him and got the decision changed via DRS. Rashid has the knack of mixing his speed variations which foxed Duckett who had scored 38 runs in 45 balls. Harry Brook was seen playing positive & attacking cricket against Noor Ahmad and was piercing the gaps.
Harry Brook had got a start and then only he gave catching practice to Nabi on his own bowling as on a short delivery he checked his short. Brook’s dismissal not only meant England were 4 wickets down but they needed another 193 runs to win from 28.2 overs with a required run rate of 6.82.
England’s two best batters Jos Buttler & Joe Root had responsibilities on their shoulders to win the game for England. Joe Root smashed a splendid ton which had all the ingredients in it. He along with Buttler were taking the game deep as Root was seen taking calculated risks with sweep & reverse sweep shots which showcases how to construct an innings when team under pressure.
Jos Buttler under-estimated Azmat who bowled on the 5th ball of 37th over when he a bumper delivery and Buttler couldn’t control himself and played a pull short but couldn’ time it properly and Rahmat at square leg took the catch. The duo Root & Buttler stitched 83 runs partnership in 91 balls & England’s score was 216-5 in 36.5 overs needing another 90 runs to win.
Liam Livingstone just needed to accompany Joe Root on a wicket which wasn’t that sluggish. There was still a little bit of ample time left in match and the dew was also settling. Liam Livingstone was tricked by Gulbadin Naib when he wanted to play a back foot shot to covers and nicked the delivery to wicket-keeper. England was in deep trouble at 233-6 in 38.4 overs. Livingstone’s thinking of quickly smashing boundaries was questionable.
Jamie Overton had a helluva of task of winning the game for England after the dismissal of the centurion Joe Root. Jamie Overton along with Jofra Archer were hitting the gaps. In the 48th over, Omarzai bowled a pace off delivery which bamboozled Jamie Overton and he played it to long on and the game was open up widely. Afghanistan needed 17 runs to win from 2.1 overs but with only 2 wickets in hand.
Azmat was the star for Afghanistan with the ball in hand who mixed variations smartly as his bumper delivery & off-cutters were quite hard to pick. Azmat showed to the world that winning ICC Men’s ODI cricketer of the year award 2024 wasn’t a fluke. Azmat took a 5 wicket haul and conceded 58 runs in 9.5 overs.
Agony for Jos Buttler’s Brigade
England now has lost 2 back to back-to-back games against Afghanistan: in 2023 ODI WC & ICC CT 2025. England got kicked out of ICC CT 2025 even before their last fixture against South Africa on 1st March. It won’t be wrong to say that England’s casual attitude cost them this exit, they now have lost 6 back to back ODI matches who have experimented way too much and not to mention that they want to entertain the fans by playing a fearless brand of cricket.
The duo of Brendon McCullum & Jos Buttler would undoubtedly be questioned with their tactics. It would sound a bit harsh but the England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB) cares only & only about Test cricket and also particularly in the Ashes which isn’t an ICC tournament unfortunately.