Ibrahim Zadran Gives Heartwarming Response To Sachin Tendulkar's Message.
Photo : AP
Ibrahim Zadran led Afghanistan's cricketing journey to greater heights after his country eliminated England from the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 with an eight-run victory on Wednesday.
For his stupendous effort with the bat, Zadran received high praise from cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar. Tendulkar's recognition comes after Afghanistan's continued success in international cricket, particularly Zadran's recent century.
Opening batter Ibrahim Zadran smashed the tournament’s highest-ever individual score of 177 off 146 balls with 12 fours and six sixes. Chasing 326, England fell short of the target and were eventually bowled out for 317. After the match, Tendulkar took to social media platform X, and acknowledged Afghanistan's growing stature in the cricketing world, stating: "Afghanistan’s steady and consistent rise in international cricket has been inspiring! You can’t term their wins as upsets anymore, they’ve made this a habit now. "
"A superb century by @IZadran18 and wonderful five-for by @AzmatOmarzay, sealed another memorable win for Afghanistan. Well played," the master blaster added.
Zadran responded with immense respect and admiration: "What an honour it is to be praised by the very man who inspired generations to pick up the bat @sachin_rt. Your words mean a lot to me and to cricket in Afghanistan. Thank you, sir."
Tendulkar's statement shows that Afghanistan are slowly but surely becoming consistent performancers courtesy of their hard work and dedication, rather than mere flukes.
Zadran leads the way
The 23-year-old Zadran absorbed the pressure of losing three wickets inside the batting powerplay and anchored Afghanistan to a strong total with his sixth ODI hundred. Zadran also surpassed Duckett’s record of 165 made against Australia last Saturday.
Reflecting on his performance, an elated Zadran spoke after the game and said: "It means a lot to me, as much as you work hard, I was having trust on myself and I wanted to keep on batting. That 177 is a special moment for me. We have played here last time in Asia Cup, so I had the idea. I wanted to take time and play proper cricketing shots and that worked for me so I’m happy. When you win a game, it gives you a lot of energy and it gives you confidence. We will try to play even better play in the next game."
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