Lahore, Feb 22: Opener Ben Duckett smashed a magnificent 165 – the highest individual score in the history of Champions Trophy – as England posted a mammoth 351/8 against Australia in their Group B match of 2025 Champions Trophy at the Gaddafi Stadium on Saturday.

Pushed into batting first, Duckett hit shots all over the park to hit a career-best 165 off 142 deliveries, and setting a new record for the best individual score previously held by former New Zealand great Nathan Astle. Duckett’s knock, laced with a whopping 17 boundaries and three maximums, is also the first instance of a batter scoring 150 in the tournament’s history.

By the time he was dismissed by Marnus Labuschagne in the 48th over, Duckett had done his job of holding England’s innings together. He got good support from Joe Root, who hit 68, and added 158 off 155 balls with Duckett for the third wicket to ensure England have a huge total on board.

For Australia, pacer Ben Dwarshuis was the standout bowler with 3-66, while Adam Zampa and Marnus Labuschagne took two wickets each and Glenn Maxwell had one scalp to his name. Left-arm pacer Dwarshuis struck twice in the first ten overs to take out Phil Salt and Jamie Smith, with Alex Carey taking two sensational grabs as a fielder.

With Duckett flaunting his ability to find the boundary, Root hit a patient 68 of 78 deliveries and was looking on course to get his first ODI hundred in almost six years till he was trapped lbw by Zampa, who would later remove Harry Brook quickly as Carey took another stunning catch.

England skipper Jos Buttler also didn’t last long as Maxwell had him holing out for 23, but Duckett continued to keep the scoreboard ticking at the other end to go past 150. Jofra Archer’s late cameo of 21 not out off 10 balls was also handy in England making their highest ever total in the Champions Trophy. Australia will now be hoping that dew comes in time to help them chase down 352 on a very placid pitch.

Brief Scores: England 351/8 in 50 overs (Ben Duckett 165, Joe Root 68; Ben Dwarshuis 3-66, Marnus Labuschagne 2-41) against Australia

New Delhi, Feb 21: Former India batter Sanjay Manjrekar has expressed his opinion on the potential playing XI for Sunday’s blockbuster clash with Pakistan in the Champions Trophy, proposing for skipper Rohit Sharma to use Varun Chakravarthy as a mystery spinner to outsmart the arch-rivals.

India, winner of the 2013 edition of the Champions Trophy, head into Sunday’s game having comfortably defeated Bangladesh whereas it will be a must-win game for Pakistan, the defending champions having won the title in 2017 when the event was last held, who lost slumped to a 60-run defeat to New Zealand in the tournament’s opening match in Karachi.

Asked about any potential changes that India should make for the high-pressure clash with the arch-rivals, Manjrekar suggested that although India ticked many boxes in the win against Bangladesh, the only potential change would be the introduction of Varun Chakravarthy as a mystery spinner.

“I think India were pretty good, they ticked most of the boxes. I don’t see them making any changes unless the pitch is drastically different than the last one. The only change that could happen is to try Varun Chakravarthy against Pakistan as they would not have seen him after the T20 clash in Abu Dhabi,” Manjrekar told IANS during the Star Sports Press Room programme.

Chakravarthy was a part of the Indian playing XI that lost against Pakistan in the T20 World Cup 2021 group stage match but it was the only time he played against them.

However, with Kuldeep Yadav remaining absent from the squad for several months because of hernia surgery, the left-arm wrist spinner may need to be given more game time in hopes of getting ready in time for the knockout stages. Kuldeep has recently returned to the squad for the ODI series against England.

“I think Kuldeep Yadav needs a little more game time so they might continue with him. KL Rahul also got some runs so if anyone was thinking of a new wicketkeeper-batter coming in then that may also not happen,” Manjrekar added.

Chakravarthy made his debut in ODIs against England at Cuttack, where he took 1-54. But he possesses an impressive List A record, having claimed 60 wickets in 24 matches at a spectacular average of 14.8.

All of this was enough for Chakravarthy, the joint second-highest wicket-taker in the recent Vijay Hazare Trophy with 18 scalps, to be included in the Champions Trophy squad at the last minute at the expense of Yashasvi Jaiswal. But he was not called upon in the opening game with Yadav, Axar Patel, and Ravindra Jadeja being used ahead of him.

Yadav was not able to contribute to any of the ten Bangladesh wickets that fell in the opening game as he ended with figures of 0-43 in his ten-over quota.

Lahore, Feb 22: In a major blunder ahead of the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy match between Australia and England at the Gaddafi Stadium on Saturday, the Indian national anthem ‘Jana Gana Mana’ was played instead of ‘Advance Australia Fair’ (Australia’s national anthem).

As has been the case in ICC events, national anthems of both teams are played before the commencement of every match. After England’s national anthem, ‘God Save The King’ was played, it was supposed to be followed by ‘Advance Australia Fair’.

But to everyone’s surprise at the venue, the Indian national anthem was played for two seconds, before the mistake was rectified immediately and ‘Advance Australia Fair’ was played. It led to a huge backlash from cricket enthusiasts on social media, who couldn’t stop themselves from laughing over this big blunder.

The national anthem blunder ahead of the Australia-England game is something which the host body Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and the International Cricket Council (ICC) will have to explain in due course of time, as well as the action they will take against the concerned people.

Coming to the match, Australia captain Steve Smith won the toss and elected to bowl first against England in their first Group B game of the eight-team tournament. Both teams came into Saturday’s match on the back of ODI series defeats in the subcontinent. While England suffered a 3-0 loss in India, Australia lost both of its ODIs in Colombo to Sri Lanka, a side who aren’t part of the ongoing Champions Trophy.

Both England and Australia need at least two wins from their Group B matches, also featuring South Africa and Afghanistan, to progress to the semifinals of the Champions Trophy. The two sides last met in ODIs last year in England, with Australia winning the series 3-2.