Ibrahim Zadran credited him for his support.
Afghanistan batter Ibrahim Zadran revealed that his conversations with spinner Rashid Khan played a major role in scoring a century in the Champions Trophy 2025 Group B match against England in Lahore on Wednesday. Zadran’s 146-ball 177 powered Afghanistan to 325/7 after they opted to bat first.
“Before the game, I had a chat with Rashid. Whenever I chat with Rashid, I get a score,” he told official broadcasters Star Sports during the mid-innings break.
At the time of writing this report, England were 17/0 after three overs in their run chase of 326.
The 23-year-old also thanked former Pakistan cricketer and current Afghanistan mentor Younis Khan and head coach Jonathan Trott.
“He is sharing his experience with us. I am trying to talk to him a lot during the nets sessions, and I have chatted to Jonathan Trott in the last two sessions. I just asked him, ‘What do you see, anything different?’ He said, ‘You’re playing very well. Once you cross 40, you’ll play a big innings.’ I brought that into my game,” he explained.
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Afghanistan were 37/3 in the ninth over after Rahmat Shah was dismissed. However, skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi (40) and Zadran forged a 103-run stand for the fourth wicket to put the Afghans back on track. Azmatullah Omarzai (41) and Mohammad Nabi (40) also played their part and supported Zadran from the other end.
“I haven’t played ODI cricket for the last one year. The expectation was there from me. I was trying to put a little bit of pressure on myself,” the right-handed batter added. When asked on what he was trying to work on, he simply said: “I was trying to take time and work on my basics. I always try to keep it simple.”
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