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England have suffered a major setback after the defeat against Australia despite posting a big score in their ICC Champions Trophy 2025 campaign opener. Their fast-bowling all-rounder Brydon Carse has been ruled out of the remainder of the tournament due to a left toe injury.
England have named 20-year-old leg-spinner Rehan Ahmed has Carse's replacement. However, Ahmed may not be available to play in England's next group stage clash against Afghanistan at Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore on February 26.
Rehan hasn't played an ODI match in nearly 15 months. The young leggie has played six ODIs and taken 10 wickets at an average of 23.30 including a four-wicket haul against Ireland.
Both England and Afghanistan lost their respective matches in first week of the tournament. Australia pulled off record-reabking run chase to win by five wickets in Lahore whereas South Africa beat Afghanistan by 107 runs in Karachi. It is a perform or perish situation for both England and Afghanistan.
England-Afghanistan head-to-head in ODIs
England and Afghanistan have faced each other thrice in ODIs. The last time they locked horns was in ODI World Cup 2023 in Delhi. Afghanistan beat England by 69 runs after setting a target of 285. Mujeeb Ur Rahman and Rashid Khan picked up three wickets each in the clash. This time around Mujeeb is not in the squad as he is yet to regain full fitness.
In the other two encounters between the two teams, England have emerged victoriously. The first clash took place in 2015. Afghanistan were bowled out for 111 in a rain-hit encounter in Sydney and England chased down the revised target of 101 with nine wickets in hand.
In 2019 World Cup, they met again. Captain Eoin Morgan smashed a 71-ball 148 and nullified the Rashid Khan threat with humongous sixes in Manchester. England posted a mammoth total of 397/6 and won the match by a massive margin of 150 runs.
England's updated Champions Trophy 2025 squad
England: Jos Buttler (c), Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson, Tom Banton, Harry Brook, Ben Duckett, Jamie Overton, Jamie Smith, Liam Livingstone, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Saqib Mahmood, Phil Salt, Mark Wood, Rehan Ahmed
