Ibrahim Zadran reveals batting plan after win against England, says he wanted to play proper cricketing shots

Afghanistan opener Ibrahim Zadran was delighted after they registered a nail-biting eight-run win against England in the ongoing Champions Trophy at the Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore on Wednesday. Zadran scored a magnum opus knock of 177 runs, which is the highest individual score in the history of the Champions Trophy, breaking Ben Duckett’s record of 165, which was set a few days ago.

The right-hander took only 146 balls and his innings was laden with a dozen fours and half a dozen sixes. Afghanistan got off to a poor start after winning the toss as they were reduced to 37-3 in the Powerplay overs. However, Zadran kept one end going and played proper cricketing shots even after getting past the 100-run mark. 

Afghanistan scored 113 runs in the last 10 overs as they were able to finish on a high despite taking only two runs off the final over against Liam Livingstone.

On the other hand, England were skittled out for 317 after Joe Root scored 120 runs but none of the other batters could go past the 40-run mark. Azmatullah Omarzai returned with impressive figures of 5-58.

Ibrahim Zadran said in the post-match presentation after he was awarded Player of the Match, “I was expecting that, I wanted to grab one good catch for the team. Whenever I grabbed it (the winning catch), that feeling was great. It means a lot to me, as much as you work hard, I was having trust on myself and I wanted to keep on batting. That 177 is a special moment for me. We have played here last time in Asia Cup, so I had the idea.”

He added, “I wanted to take time and play proper cricketing shots and that worked for me so I’m happy. When you win a game, it gives you a lot of energy and it gives you confidence. We will try to play even better play in the next game. We will be playing against Australia so we will try to do as less mistakes as possible. We will have a plan and do our best.”

Afghanistan will next take on Australia at the Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore on Friday.