The superstar Afghanistan National Cricket Team leg-spinner Rashid Khan bowled an absolutely bizarre delivery to the England National Cricket Team modern-day batting great Joe Root on Wednesday, February 26.
The 8th match of the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 between the Group B teams – Afghanistan and England – is currently underway at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore.
Rashid Khan fails to shine against England
The star leg-spinner Rashid Khan has not looked at his very best in ODI cricket for quite some time and the same story continued in the Afghanistan vs England match.
Rashid Khan picked up his first and only wicket in the match in the 17th over of the innings when he dismissed the star opener, Ben Duckett.
On the fourth ball of the over, Rashid bowled a full delivery that was projected to hit the middle-and-leg and hit Ben Duckett on the pads. Rashid went for a wild and prolonged appeal, but the umpire, Rod Tucker, wasn’t interested. A review was taken, and on the UltraEdge, it showed that the ball would hit the stumps and Duckett was declared out.
Meanwhile, when Rashid came to bowl late in the innings, he bowled a bizarre delivery to the English batting great Joe Root. On the last ball of the 36th over, Rashid released the delivery from way behind the popping crease and the stumps.
It landed on the outside off-stump and was a short-length delivery. Root easily went back and pulled the ball wide of mid-wicket for a four to punish Rashid for his bizarre delivery.
Watch: Rashid Khan bowls absolutely bizarre delivery
— Drizzyat12Kennyat8 (@45kennyat7PM) February 26, 2025
Hopefully, we get some spin in the second innings – Hashmatullah Shahidi
Speaking at the toss ahead of the action getting underway, the Afghanistan skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi said that they were hopeful of the pitch slowing down in the second innings. He said:
“We want to bat first. The wicket looks good. Hopefully, we get some spin in the second innings, it is a bit slow and that is what happened in the last game.
“Some time dew is coming, some time it isn’t. In the second innings, this pitch becomes a little slow and hopefully, dew doesn’t come and affect our spinners. We were not bowling in good areas, that is what we discussed in the team meeting. We are going with the same team.”
Meanwhile, England skipper Jos Buttler said that they have highly skilled individuals in the squad and expectations are very high from them. He said:
“Yeah, okay. Obviously, the dew came in. Hopefully, it skids off the surface later in the night. We would have batted first as well. It looks a good wicket. We want to perform well overall to come out on top today. One change for us. Brydon Carse is out with an injury and Jamie Overton comes in. The individual skills are always high. The expectations are high from everyone. The fast bowlers will be charging in today.”
England Playing XI: Ben Duckett, Philip Salt, Jamie Smith (wk), Joe Root, Harry Brook, Jos Buttler (c), Liam Livingstone, Jamie Overton, Mark Wood, Adil Rashid, Jofra Archer
Afghanistan Playing XI: Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Ibrahim Zadran, Sediqullah Atal, Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi (c), Azmatullah Omarzai, Mohammad Nabi, Gulbadin Naib, Rashid Khan, Noor Ahmad, Fazalhaq Farooqi
