LAHORE (Kashmir English): England and Afghanistan will lock horns in the 8th Match of the ICC Men’s Champions Trophy 2025 today (Wed, 26 Feb) with both the teams eyeing victory to stay afloat.
The Group B match will be played at Ghaddafi Stadium Lahore. With both the teams having lost their previous matches, a fresh defeat would straightaway end their chances of reaching the semis.
Both the teams need a win to keep their prospects for the top four alive. England will be looking for their first win of the tournament against underdogs Afghanistan.
However, Afghanistan have also shown in recent times that they cannot be taken lightly.
South Africa and Australia, also in Group B, have already secured two points each.
England had suffered a 69-run defeat at the hands of Afghanistan in the 2023 ODI World Cup. Apart from that, Afghanistan have also proven that they are not the underdogs anymore and can thrash any team on their day.
Afghanistan and England have met thrice in the ODI format so far. Out of these three encounters, England won two while Afghanistan defeated them in one game.
Both nations haven’t played a lot of cricket against each other. But the today’s match has set the tone for a competitive environment between Afghanistan and England in future.
England haven’t hosted Afghanistan for a bilateral series yet. Their first encounter was in the 2019 World Cup in Manchester with England winning the match by 150 runs.
Their other two World Cup encounters had come at neutral venues. England won the 2015 World Cup match in Australia, while Afghanistan defeated England in the 2023 World Cup game in India.
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Pakistan’s early exit from Champions Trophy
Pakistan faced an early exit in the home ICC Champions Trophy tournament followed by demands for wholesale changes.
Pakistan crashed out of the Champions Trophy in the group stage, barely a week into celebrating the return of a major cricket event.
The titleholders lost their opening match to New Zealand by 60 runs before Sunday’s six-wicket defeat to India pushed them to the brink of an early exit.
