ICC Champions Trophy 2025 Preview: Afghanistan vs England Match in Lahore on February 26, 2025

A battered England will hope to keep their hopes of Champions Trophy alive when they face a dangerous Afghanistan in a crucial match of Group B in LaHore on Wednesday (February 26, 2025).

A defeat would severely focus on both dreams of the teams of a semifinal position in the tournament, since South Africa and Australia have already achieved two points.

The days of the supremacy of the White Ball of England are very far now, since the crunchy unity of the former world champions even failed to defend a total of more than 350 against Australia in its first tournament match.

Although England can comfort when publishing a massive total, the reality is that it occurred against an Australian side that lost its Premier Pacers: Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood.

The English bowling players could not stop an Australian alignment that had no main batters such as Mitchell Marsh injured and now retired Marcus Stainis.

Therefore, England will need to show a massive improvement against Afghanistan in both counts.

The three -pointed rotating attack of Afghanistan, which consists of Rashid Khan, Noor Ahmad and Mohammad Nabi, has the potential to bother even maybe, and the recent exits of England’s batters against slow bowling players are not inspiring either.

England also suffered a setback since the Brydon Camrse SUV has been discarded from the tournament with a foot injury. It has been replaced by the leg spinner Rehan Ahmed in an effort to strengthen its spinning department.

This movement will also provide Adil Rashid for adequate support, since, until now, Liam Livingstone had been playing that role with his mixed bag of deliveries, leg tours and stops.

But England’s real problem is in the irregular form of the opener Phil Salt and Harry Brook in the average order.

The only hundred in the Salt format were in 2022 and since then the Welshman has not turned his beginnings, often leaving after a fast 30 or 40.

Brook also offers a similar story. The Yorkshire man sought primaryly during the hate at home against Australia last year, hammering one hundred and fifty years in a series of three games.

However, Brook has been plagued with doubts against the spinners from the tour of India, and fell to the Australian Spinner Adam Zampa in the last game.

Now, the 26 -year -old will have to deny three high quality adjustments against Afghanistan.

Afghan, on the other hand, have their own problems to address. They are leaving a bottle of 107 races in South Africa in their first tournament match.

They had reached the semifinals of the World Cup T20 2024 with almost the same set of players, but the ODI format demands much more consistency in the performance and execution of strategies.

Afghanistan has the required talent, but they need to find a way to channel that constantly to challenge England, even in their most vulnerable state.

EQUIPMENT (DE):

Afghanistan: Hashmatullah Shahidi (C), Ibrahim Zadran, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Sediqullah Atal, Rahmat Shah, Ikram Alikhil, Gulbadin Naib, Azmatullah Omarzai, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Nangyal Kharti, Noor Ahmad, Fazal, Fazal, Fazal, Fazal, Fazal, Fazal, Fazal, Fazal Rashid, Rashid Khan, Nangyal Kharoti, Noor Ahmad, Faazal, Faazal, Rashid, Rashid, Nangyal Kharti, Noor Ahmad, Faazal, Faazal, Rashid, Rashid, Nangyal Khari, Noor Ahmad, Faazal, Faazal. Malik, Naveed Zadran. Reservations: Darwish Rasooli, Bilal Sami.

England: Jos Buttler (C), Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson, Tom Banton, Harry Brook, Rean Ahmed, Ben Duckett, Jamie Overton, Jamie Smith, Liam Livingstone, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Saqib Mahmood, Phil Salt, Mark Wood.

The game starts at 2.30 pm isth.