Afghanistan defeated England by eight runs to stay in the race for the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 semifinals. Afghanistan will now face Australia for their third group-stage clash.

England's ICC Champions Trophy 2025 journey ended in heartbreak as Afghanistan defeated them by 8 runs in a nail-biting encounter at Lahore's Gaddafi Stadium. Star batter Joe Root fought till the end with a brilliant century,

In eighth match of ICC Champions Trophy at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore, Afghanistan beat England by eight runs tonight. Batting first, Afghanistan scored 325 runs for loss of 7 wickets in stipulated fifty overs. In reply, England was all out at 317 in 49.5 overs

Afghanistan have knocked England out of the tournament in a Champions Trophy sensation — and will now seek to do the same to Australia.

Ibrahim Zadran completes his second hundred in the ICC events with a single off Liam Livingstone in the 37th over. Azmatullah Omarzai smashed a six on the very next ball Zadran completed his ton. Omarzai targeted Mark Wood and hit a six then a four in his over. Zadran also completed his over with a boundary.

Mohammad Nabi and Rashid Khan claimed the wickets of Harry Brook and Ben Duckett respectively as Afghanistan stamp authority over England. | Crickit

Afghanistan beat England by eight runs to knock them out of the Champions Trophy. For years, Afghanistan has been seen as the rising team, celebrated for their upsets against the cricketing giants. But now, they are steadily becoming one of the premier white-ball teams in the world, particularly in subcontinental conditions.

Zadran's 177 is also the highest score by an Afghanistan batter in ODI cricket. He broke his own record of 162 which he made against Sri Lanka in Pallekele in November 2022

In Group A, India and New Zealand have already secured their spots in the semifinals. The two teams face each other on March 2 which will determine the group winner. The top two from each group go through. The team finishing first in its group will face the team ending second in the other group in the semifinals.

England are out of the ICC Champions Cup following an eight-run defeat to Afghanistan in Lahore.