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 ECB Confirms That England Will Play Champions Trophy Fixture Vs Afghanistan

Muskaan Bhatt

England will play against Afghanistan (Source: AP Photos)England will play against Afghanistan (Source: AP Photos)

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The upcoming Champions Trophy is all set to begin from 19 February. While the ICC tournament has met with its own challenges, after several discussions and debates, England has finally confirmed that their previous stance on boycotting the game against Afghanistan in response to the Taliban government’s crackdown on women’s rights stands changed. 

This means that the Three Lions, will be playing their group stage match against Afghanistan later this month. Earlier, a group of British lawmakers had requested the England cricket team to boycott the Champions Trophy group stage match against Afghanistan on February 26. 

However, while recently giving a statement, ECB chair Richard Thompson said that they would be playing the match against Afghanistan after a discussion with the government, while adding that the cricketing community alone cannot tackle Afghanistan’s problems.

“We remain of the view that a co-ordinated international response by the cricketing community is the appropriate way forward and will achieve more than any unilateral action by the ECB in boycotting this match. We have also heard that for many ordinary Afghans, watching their cricket team is one of the few remaining sources of enjoyment. As such, we can confirm that we will play this fixture,” he said.

Not just this, South Africa Sports Minister Gayton McKenzie also supported calls for a boycott and followed down the same path earlier. However it remains to be seen whether they would be taking back this decision and play against Afghanistan in the upcoming mega-event.

Afghanistan and England's Squads For Champions Trophy

Meanwhile, here is a look at the entire Afghanistan and England squad for the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy:

Aghanistan: Hashmatullah Shahidi (c), Ibrahim Zadran, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Sediqullah Atal, Rahmat Shah, Ikram Alikhil, Gulbadin Naib, Azmatullah Omarzai, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, AM Ghazanfar, Noor Ahmad, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Farid Malik and Naveed Zadran.

England Jos Buttler (c), Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson, Jacob Bethell, Harry Brook, Brydon Carse, Ben Duckett, Jamie Overton, Jamie Smith, Liam Livingstone, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Saqib Mahmood, Phil Salt, Mark Wood