Afghanistan has stunned England by eight runs to eliminate them from the Champions Trophy in Pakistan.
Opening batter Ibrahim Zadran scored an epic 177 for the tournament debutants to set up their narrow victory in a Group B thriller on Wednesday at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore.
[SUMMARY]Zadran produced the highest score in the tournament's history to help Afghanistan overcome Jofra Archer's three early wickets and rack up 7-325.
"It means a lot to me … as much as you work hard, I had trusted in myself. I wanted to bat longer and longer. That 177 is a special moment for me," Zadran said.
"We'll try and play better cricket in the next game. We're going to play against Australia and we'll try not to do too many mistakes. We'll have a plan."
Joe Root's classy 120 kept England alive in the chase until the 46th over.
But Afghanistan chipped away with regular wickets, eventually bowling them out for 317 with one ball left in the innings.
"A few years ago you'd have said that losing to Afghanistan would be like England slipping on a banana skin," Jonathan Agnew said on BBC radio.
"But they are a hugely improved side and they are right up there with the best in white-ball cricket.
"That's twice now they've beaten England in ICC events … they've produced a brilliant performance to bounce back from their disappointment against South Africa.
"Phil Salt and Jamie Smith's dismissals were appalling from England's point of view.
"When you are chasing such a big target you cannot afford to give early wickets away and that's what England did. Phil Salt offered a sort of forlorn waft at a good-length ball and Jamie Smith, I cannot understand for a nanosecond what was going through his head."
England were eliminated after their second successive defeat in the tournament and Jos Buttler risks losing the captain's job after overseeing yet another poor campaign in an ICC event.
"I don't want to say any emotional statements right now," Buttler said at the presentation ceremony.
"For myself and the guys at the top, we should consider all possibilities.
"We need to consider all possibilities and get English cricket back to where we should be in white-ball cricket,.
"Personally I need to work out, am I part of the problem or the solution?"
Afghanistan also beat England at the 2023 ODI World Cup in India.
"As a team we are happy," Afghan captain Hashmatullah Shahidi said.
"I know the whole nation will be happy.
"The beauty of our team is we have talented youngsters and at the same time we have senior guys who are at the top level. Hopefully we take this momentum with us for the next game against Australia."
Archer produced a three-wicket burst after Shahidi elected to bat in a contest that several British politicians wanted England to boycott over the curtailment of women's rights in Afghanistan under the Taliban's rule.
Rahmanullah Gurbaz dragged one on to his stumps, Sediqullah Atal was trapped LBW and Rahmat Shah holed out to leave Afghanistan tottering on 37-3 in the ninth over.
Zadran combined in a 103-run stand with Shahidi (40) to prop up Afghanistan while Azmatullah Omarzai (41) and Mohammad Nabi (40) chipped in with useful cameos down the order.
Zadran needed 106 balls to bring up his sixth ODI hundred and went on to overcome England opener Ben Duckett's 165 against Australia on Saturday as the highest individual score in the history of the tournament.
His 146-ball blitz, studded with six sixes and 12 fours, earned Zadran the player of the match award.
England looked ragged towards the end of the Afghanistan innings when misfielding and injuries to Mark Wood and Liam Livingstone compounded their problems.
Wood limped off the field after bowling eight wicketless overs but Livingstone returned to send down a tidy, two-wicket final over.
England stuttered early in their reply, losing Phil Salt and Jamie Smith inside seven overs.
Duckett (38) got a reprieve when Shahidi dropped him at mid-off but the opener could not make the most of it.
Harry Brook (25) and Buttler (38) could not convert their starts but Root scored on a run-a-ball rate despite battling cramp towards the end of his knock.
Omarzai, who finished with impressive figures of 5-58, ended Root's classy knock when the batter fell caught behind trying to play the ramp shot.
Jamie Overton made 32 and a hobbling Wood returned to bat again but England fell agonisingly short of the target.
"This is probably an unpopular opinion but if you do not play any 50-over cricket other than internationally, you probably won't be very good at it," ex-England spinner Vic Marks.
"Look at Joe Root, who played the perfect 50-over innings. But the bowlers, they are not used to bowling 10 overs if you are basing your team on T20 form and experience.
"It comes down to concentration, too. Someone like Phil Salt has got some good starts this winter and if you do that in T20, you have done your job. But if that keeps happening in ODIs, losing early wickets puts the rest of the batting order under so much pressure.
"It is a very, very different game to T20 cricket and you have to go about it differently — I don't think many of England's players recognise that."
Afghanistan, coached by former England batter Jonathan Trott, must beat Australia on Friday to make the last four and seal a place in a second-straight semi-final of an ICC event, having reached the same stage at last year's T20 World Cup.
A win for Australia would seal its place in the semis however defeat, coupled with a victory for South Africa over England on Saturday, would mean elimination.
Currently, Australia are on three points alongside South Africa, but lagging behind on net run-rate (2.140 to 0.475) with Afghanistan on two points with a minus-0.990 net run rate.
[SCORECARD]ABC/wires
