Afghanistan’s narrow hopes of making it to the semi-final were extinguished on Saturday, March 1, when South Africa dismissed England for a mere 179 runs in the last Group B game of the Champions Trophy 2025.
England remained ineffective with the bat when batting first and were dismissed in only 38.2 overs at the National Bank Stadium in Karachi.
The outcome of the first innings guaranteed that South Africa and Australia advanced to the tournament’s semi-final. Consequently, Afghanistan, which urgently required England to secure a significant victory over South Africa, was eliminated from the tournament.
ALSO READ: Kurdish Group PKK Declares Ceasefire With Turkey
Group B, comprising Afghanistan, Australia, South Africa, and England, proved to be a closely contested competition. Due to several matches being canceled because of rain, all teams, except for England, were competing for the semi-final positions right up until the last moment.
Afghanistan lost control of their destiny when their game against Australia was canceled because of rain on Friday, February 28.
Since Afghanistan and South Africa had both earned 3 points, the Atalans had to await the outcome of the South Africa versus England match. Afghanistan required a miracle from the SA vs ENG match to secure a spot in the tournament’s final four.
Afghanistan required England to win against South Africa by a minimum of 207 runs in the match today. Nonetheless, the Jos Buttler team could not even reach 207 runs, following yet another collapse of their batting order.
Bazballing England once more played reckless shots in Jos Buttler’s last match as captain, getting bowled out for an insufficient score yet again. Joe Root was England’s highest scorer in the match, making 37 runs from 44 balls.
