There has been a shock result in the Champions Trophy. Afghanistan have defeated England by 8 runs. The result has obviously led to different emotions. This result means that England are out of the competition. Afghanistan were elated while England were dismayed and possibly bordering on disbelief.
The Afghanistan fans had barely stopped dancing as Rob Key departed Pakistan in the early hours of Thursday morning. England's director of men's cricket was booked on the 3 am flight out of Lahore long before a miserable Champions Trophy exit was confirmed but left with plenty to ponder.
Key is yet to sack a captain since taking on his role in April 2022 but, when the jetlag subsides, must decide whether Jos Buttler's time is done. It may be that Key is spared the most difficult decision.
Buttler didn't sound like a man keen to stay on after the eight-run defeat by Afghanistan - a tantalising encounter in which Joe Root almost rescued England from the brink. "I don't want to say any emotional statements right now," he said. "For myself and the guys at the top, we should consider all possibilities."
It was hard not to feel for Buttler when he slumped in his chair, having dragged himself from the dressing rooms to face the media.
From Bangalore to Barbados, Lucknow to Lahore, the 34-year-old has been here before over the past 15 months. The same questions asked by the same faces after three poor showings in global events. "I know lots of people think it doesn't sit well with me being captain and that kind of thing but I really do enjoy it," Buttler said.
It isn't just his tactics or his batting technique that have been doubted over England's poor run but his very make-up. That isn't easy. It was hoped the arrival of Brendon McCullum as coach would reinvigorate Buttler, who was known to have taken defeats in the India World Cup particularly hard.
Word is the defeat by Australia on Saturday was dealt with more easily, with the weight lifted by the presence of the New Zealander but Wednesday's mood was familiarly sombre, leaving McCullum at his trickiest juncture in English cricket to date.
His friendship with Buttler dates back long before this working relationship - the pair once business partners rather than captain and coach - and McCullum is unnervingly loyal. That should never be mistaken for a softness, however. Don't forget the ruthless decisions to move on from James Anderson, Jack Leach or Ollie Robinson.
McCullum will also surely not have underestimated the size of the task in turning this ship around but the issues in front of him - not least a public growing louder with it's discontent - are mounting. When taking on the white-ball role, he said his coaches would step up to lead when he needed time away but evidence suggests this team can't afford a half-in leader.
The idea of England failing to qualify for the 2027 World Cup may seem extreme but only the top eight in the rankings - nine if South Africa are one of those - are guaranteed their spots. England are currently seventh with Afghanistan having closed in and Bangladesh and West Indies lurking below.
Continuing to take their white-ball side for granted could mean a qualification tournament alongside the likes of Nepal and Oman. Buttler, Root, Wood and co. are also the last generation of England cricketers who grew up on 50 (or 40)-over cricket. Given the lack of it played in England, the search for the next generation will continue to be educated guesswork.
If Buttler is replaced, any supporter hoping it will bring in a change of approach is likely to be disappointed. Three men have captained this side in the past year when Buttler has been injured - Harry Brook, Liam Livingstone and Phil Salt, who are all disciples of the attacking approach.
Having ascended to be Buttler's vice-captain in January after leading in his absence in five matches against Australia, Brook is the obvious next move.
During that 3-2 defeat by Australia, Brook said he wanted the team to play like McCullum's Bazballing Test side and was also criticised for his "who cares" if you are caught on the boundary or in the in-field comment at Trent Bridge.
That was a misstep but he did well to recover in a promising first stint as captain, which included his only one-day international century to date.
An England boycott against Afghanistan would have left the side with no points from the game. On a hazy night in Lahore, that is all England got anyway, stumbling to an eight-run defeat that confirmed their Champions Trophy elimination.
A third consecutive ignominious global tournament for England is the immediate result of this wildly oscillating game. However, fine the margin, the end for Jos Buttler as white-ball captain now looms; so, perhaps, does the end of his one-day international career. He will turn 37 before the 2027 World Cup and his batting returns have been dwindling.
At 216-4 and in pursuit of 326, with his partner Joe Root serene, England were narrow favourites. Then, Buttler was confronted by a short ball from Azmatullah Omarzai, which followed his head with all the menace of a local mosquito. As Buttler's top edge ballooned to square leg, he looked to the sky. Root's impeccably controlled 120 and late pyrotechnics from Jamie Overton, couldn't alleviate Buttler's despair. Nor could they quieten the chants of, "Afghanistan Zindabad."
The jubilation in Lahore reaffirmed the political significance of a clash that many would have preferred not to happen at all. When Ibrahim Zadran – whose imperious 177 had set up the victory – took the winning catch, thousands of Afghan refugees waved their flags in jubilation. Men and women alike, they waved a flag that technically no longer exists: the colours of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, which was replaced by the Taliban’s flag in 2021. The triumph of Afghanistan’s tenacious cricketers, now as savvy as they are skilful, will be interpreted in many different and contradictory ways.
For England, the repercussions of this game are at least reserved to cricket. Still, the questions extend far beyond the identity of the captain. Why did England pick a No. 3 (Jamie Smith) in the Champions Trophy who had only done the job once before, in county cricket? Why has the batting line-up mislaid the range that is the hallmark of the best 50-over batsmen? Why were England’s fast bowlers, for the second consecutive game, as predictable as the hands on a clock? Why did it need an injury to a seam bowler for the squad to include a second spinner? More than anything, how have England allowed their white-ball empire to disintegrate?
As recently as November 2022, when Buttler lifted the T20 World Cup at Melbourne in his first tournament as captain, Australia counterpart, Aaron Finch, declared that England had been, "the benchmark of white-ball cricket [for] a long time now." This was not a hyperbole: England had reached five consecutive semi-finals in world events and had become the first men's side to hold the ODI and T20 World Cups simultaneously.
Now, England’s pioneers have assumed the air of men searching to remember a language they no longer speak. Since the 2023 World Cup began, England have lost 18 ODIs out of 25; Buttler’s side also only won one game out of four against Test opposition during a tame T20 World Cup defence last year.
The promise of swift reinvigoration under Brendon McCullum has proved delusional. England have now lost 9 white-ball games out of 10 since McCullum took over as limited-overs coach. There is a hint that England are playing like a caricature of the New Zealand team that McCullum led to a first World Cup final in 2015. Led by McCullum's gallivanting opening batting, that side played thrillingly uninhibited cricket – yet they also possessed the range that 50-over cricket demands.
In the middle order, Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor possessed an adaptability that too many English batsmen lack. Where England's seam attack are almost homogeneous, such is their commitment to bowling right-arm back-of-a-length at 85mph, New Zealand had two new-ball swing bowlers – one, Trent Boult, was a left-armer to boot. Where England proclaim that wicket-taking is the only way to contain – a tactic that has yielded a combined return of 4 for 362 in 60 overs in the middle phase this tournament – Daniel Vettori showed the merits of crafty defensive bowling.
Liam Livingstone’s comments about working with McCullum earlier in the tournament now speak not just to the regime's clarity but also a dogmatic inflexibility. "He has his very set ways," Livingstone said on Sunday. "He wants people to bowl fast. He wants us to be aggressive with the bat and he wants people to spin the ball. And it’s pretty simple the way he wants to go about it."
For too many players in India and now Pakistan, such a simple diktat has not translated into performances. Smith succumbed for nine charging Nabi’s first ball; Harry Brook tamely chipped the same bowler a simple return catch to fall for 20. Livingstone himself made just 10 before slashing Gulbadin Naib’s unassuming medium pace behind.
The dismissal extended Livingstone’s grim run at global tournaments: he now averages 15.11 in 28 matches in International Cricket Council (ICC) events. For Root, combining classical craftsmanship with the occasional audacious scoop, was left like Horatius at the Bridge. No other man reached 40; indeed, Buttler’s 38 is the highest score made by anyone beyond Root and Ben Duckett (165 vs. Australia) during England's opening two games.
England have now lost their way in the ODI format. They are a pale shadow of the team which played such enterprising cricket under Eoin Morgan in the run-up to the 2019 ICC World Cup title. Since winning the championship at home, they have lost more ODIs (34) than they have won (29). Under captain Jos Buttler, who replaced Morgan in 2021, they have won 14 of 38 ODIs (a 36.84% win record).
Brendon McCullum replaced Matthew Mott as head coach of the white-ball sides as well, at the turn of the year and it was hoped his arrival would reinvigorate England with his attacking philosophy.
Ahead of the Champions Trophy, former England batting icon, Kevin Pietersen, had expressed doubts whether their ultra-attacking approach would get the side consistent results. The only batter who kept England alive in Wednesday's contest was Joe Root, who stuck to his old-fashioned style of mixing caution with aggression.
"You only have to look at their statistics. They certainly are not (getting the results in Test cricket) and then we’ll have to wait and see what happens in white ball. They’ve only played a couple of games and they’ve lost their first series. I don’t think deep down if you ask them, they’re achieving the numbers that they want to achieve," Pietersen had said during a media interaction in Mumbai.
Afghanistan’s cricket was showcased to the world through the rise of Rashid Khan. The world came to know about the abundance of riches Afghanistan possessed. The team now boasts of some technically sound batters such as openers, Ibrahim Zadran and Rahmanullah Gurbaz and a sharp pace attack led by Fazalhaq Farooqi and Azmatullah Omartazai.
Former England cricketer, Neil Fairbrother, cried after Afghanistan knocked them out of the ICC Champions Trophy 2025. In a virtual knockout match, Afghanistan beat England by eight runs in Lahore on Wednesday to register their second victory against England in an ICC 50-over event. After the match, legendary Pakistan cricketer, Wasim Akram, texted Fairbrother, who replied, "I wept."
Akram said he had to remind his "good friend" that it was just a game and Afghanistan defeating England in Pakistani conditions was always on the cards.
"The way they are playing, the cricket-loving people of England must be quite upset. I just messaged my dear friend Neil Fairbrother, he literally told me 'I wept'. I told him, 'hang on buddy, it is just a game and it was always on the cards'," Akram said on Ten Sports show 'Dressing Room'.
Akram and Fairbrother go back a long way. They shared the dressing room for a long time in the English County side, Lancashire. Fairbrother, a stylish left-handed batter, played 10 Tests and 75 ODIs for England. He was an absolute legend at the domestic level, playing a whopping 366 first-class matches, scoring more than 20 000 runs that included 47 centuries.
Analysing what is going wrong with the England cricket team, Indian batting legend, Sunil Gavaskar and pace great Akram, said that England need to stop, "blaming everything" like India playing all their matches in Dubai and need to introspect on what is wrong with their system.
"They will still come and start mourning the next morning. See they cannot lose. If they lose there has to be an excuse and the excuse cannot be that they weren’t better that day or the other team was better, they will start blaming everything," Gavaskar said on the DP World Dressing Room show. "They will start blaming India also because India are playing all their matches in Dubai and why are we not playing our matches at one venue."
Akram agreed with Gavaskar and said that England complaining about any perceived advantage that India have been handed should have come before Champions Trophy 2025 began and not midway through the tournament after results started going against their way.
"Their two commentators, our good friends, Michael Atherton and Nasser Hussain have said that but, I said, you have to make these noises before the tournament not after the tournament," Akram said.
Gavaskar was quick to add that it was the duty of England's representatives to raise these concerns with the ICC and talking about it now doesn't make sense. "Their representatives at ICC should be asking why but the other question is can you go into a tournament without India? India would have said no, then what happens?" asked the former India captain.
Waqar Younis said that the morale of the England team is really low which has become a hindrance for the former world champions.
"Overall when you look at Lahore pitch, you think 325 is very much chaseable, but England's mindset with recent few games, they can’t win against anything. They are struggling against all teams, on different pitches, they lost to India recently, they lost to South Africa, it has been a struggle,” Younis said on the DP World Dressing Room show. “They never had the confidence. There was only one man standing (Root). That one man could have won them the game but they (Afghansitan) were persistent, they never lost hope and they kept coming back at them."
Former India coach, Ravi Shastri advised the England cricket team to start taking playing in Subcontinent, "seriously with no excuses" to be recognised as a team that does well on way tours.
"Afghanistan. You guys rock. Kammaaal Kaardi. For England. Take playing in the Subcontinent seriously with no excuses. Only then you will be recognised as a Team that can TRAVEL #AFGvENG #ChampionsTrophy2025," Shastri wrote on X.
To truly grasp the significance of this victory on Wednesday, one must consider Afghanistan's journey. Qualifying for the eight-team Champions Trophy itself was a monumental achievement for a team that only became a full member of the ICC in 2017. Not only did they earn their place by finishing in the top eight at the 2023 ODI World Cup in India but they are now serious contenders for a semi-final spot—a tournament in which former world champions West Indies and Sri Lanka failed to qualify.
“They aren’t just flukes anymore. They are playing really good cricket with a lot of heart. I would actually put them above Pakistan and Bangladesh now. I really hope they beat Australia. It’s going to be a tough one. But, nothing is impossible with these guys,” said former India pacer, Varun Aaron, on Wednesday, echoing the sentiments of many about the inspiring Afghan side.
At the 2023 ODI World Cup in India, Afghanistan finished sixth, narrowly missing out on a semi-final spot. They defeated: England; Pakistan; Sri Lanka and the Netherlands and came agonisingly close to knocking eventual champions Australia out. It took a once-in-a-lifetime innings from Glenn Maxwell to deny them in Mumbai.
In the T20 World Cup last year, Afghanistan went a step further. They eliminated Australia from another global event and secured a semi-final berth, reinforcing their status as a rising force in world cricket.
While their prowess in T20Is was never in doubt, Afghanistan had a point to prove in ODIs. Their performance in India needed to be validated. A heavy defeat to South Africa in the Champions Trophy opener sparked disappointment but on Wednesday, they dismantled England with ruthless precision, both with bat and ball.
That they managed to do this amid calls for a boycott of their fixture makes their triumph even more remarkable. England considered forfeiting the game after political pressure from their elected representatives over concerns about women's rights under the Taliban regime in Afghanistan.
Despite these external pressures, Afghanistan’s players have always played with a smile, unaffected by the turmoil back home. They continue to be questioned about the Taliban’s ban on women’s sport and teams like Australia have even refused to play bilateral series against them. While the ICC has allowed Afghanistan to retain full-member status despite lacking an active women’s team, the situation remains contentious.
However, none of this has dampened the passion with which the Ashgar Afghans, Rashid Khans, the Mohammad Nabis and the Gulbadin Naibs have represented their country.
It was in refugee camps in Pakistan that hundreds of Afghan men, fleeing successive wars in their country, first fell in love with cricket—a passion that has now given them a ray of hope. Mohammad Nabi, the oldest player in the Champions Trophy 2025, was brought up in a refugee camp in Peshawar. He was part of Afghanistan’s first-ever international cricket match in 2009 and played a crucial all-round role in Wednesday’s win.
A country torn apart by war, where young cricketers once practised on barren fields with makeshift bats, now finds itself rubbing shoulders with the sport’s elite.
Afghanistan's rise has been phenomenal. The only trajectory I see them going is up. No team should treat them lightly. They have the potential to be world champions one day. England probably undermined them - which led to their downfall.
England's decline is quite shocking. I wasn't fully aware of the troubling stats. It's quite amazing to see how quick a decline can go. A change of leadership may help; but only on the short-term. It'll take some time to return to the glory days they once enjoyed.
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