Azmatullah Omarzai Creates History, Becomes First Player In The World After 27 Years To...

Azmatullah Omarzai created history during the 2025 Champions Trophy clash between Australia and Afghanistan, which is a virtual quarter-final with both teams facing a do-or-die situation in their pursuit of reaching the semi-final.

Less than 48 hours after his brilliance with the ball helped Afghanistan register a nervy eight-run win vs England, Omarzai played a stunning knock of 67 in just 63 balls to help the rising Asian giants post a competitive total of 273 on the board after winning the toss and choosing to bat first. Earlier in the day, Sediqullah Atal played a solid knock of 85 in 95 balls after the early departure of Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran.

With his continued all-round brilliance in the 2025 Champions Trophy, Omarzai has become only the second player in the Champions Trophy to score a fifty and take a five-wicket haul in the same edition of the Champions Trophy. The only other player to do the same was South African cricket legend Jacques Kallis, who achieved the feat in the inaugural edition in 1998.

Kallis scored a memorable knock of 113 in 100 balls in the semi-final against Sri Lanka at Dhaka. Later, he took five wickets while giving away just 30 runs in the Proteas' victory over West Indies in the final.

Kallis remains the only player in Champions Trophy history to have both a century and a five-wicket haul to his name.

Apart from Omarazi and Kallis, Shahid Afridi also has a five-wicket haul and scores a half-century. Afridi scored a knock of 55 in just 18 balls against the Netherlands in the 2002 edition at the SSC Stadium in Colombo, which is the quickest 50 in the competition's history. Later, he took five wickets and gave away just 11 runs in just six overs against Kenya at Birmingham in 2004.

In the match against England, Omarzi scored a knock of 41 in 37 balls. This marked the first instance in the tournament's history of a player taking a five-wicket haul and scoring more than 40 runs in a match. Kallis had made 37 runs in 51 balls against West Indies in the 1998 final after taking five wickets with the ball.

Omarzai's stunning 2025 Champions Trophy campaign with bat and ball has come on the back of him winning the ICC ODI Cricketer of the Year award in 2024. He is the first Afghanistan cricketer to win an annual award by the world cricket governing body.

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