Match 8 of the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy brings us a David-versus-Goliath encounter between Afghanistan and England, which will be contested at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore.
For the game, here are our preview and predictions.
ICC Champions Trophy 2025 | Match 8: Afghanistan vs England | 14:30 IST, February 26
The first match of this year’s Champions Trophy at the Gaddafi Stadium saw Australia register a record chase in ODI ICC tournaments to hand England a confidence-sapping defeat in Match 4. In all three recent ODIs at the venue, the team batting first have breached the 300-mark every single time, with both Australia and New Zealand chasing down their targets with relative ease recently. Thus, it’s safe to say that this is arguably the best ground for batters in the tournament.
Looking at the two teams ahead of this crucial Group B fixture, both Afghanistan and England were handed defeats in their respective openers, which means failure here could prove fatal to their knockout aspirations. While England were in the game for large parts against Australia, underdogs Afghanistan were thoroughly outplayed in every single department by South Africa.
Unlike Karachi, where the pitch had very little assistance for spinners, the Lahore pitches tend to favour both batters and spin bowlers, bringing the Afghan spinners into play. Moreover, keeping in mind England’s recent struggles against spin, the Afghan spinners will be licking their lips if they’re served with a hard and dry wicket.
England have a history of dropping games against minnows in ICC tournaments from time to time, be it the Netherlands, Scotland, Ireland, or Bangladesh in recent events. Despite a strong batting performance against Australia, there are still question marks over some of their batters. Their bowling attack, too, except Adil Rashid, has been lacklustre. Thus, if the conditions are right, this match has the potential to be a real banana skin for the Three Lions.
Fantasy XI: Jos Buttler, Philip Salt (c), Rahmat Shah, Ben Duckett, Joe Root (vc), Azmatullah Omarzai, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Adil Rashid, Jofra Archer
Venue: Lahore, Pakistan
Winners Prediction: England
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