Australian bowlers give tough time to Afghan batters in crucial match of ICC Champions Trophy 2025 at Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore today
LAHORE: (UrduPoint/Pakistan Point News-Feb 28th, 2025) Afghanistan on Friday set 274-run target for Australia in a crucial match of ICC Champions Trophy 2025.
Sediqullah Atal scored 85 off 95 balls and returned to the pavilion and emerged as the top scorer so far while Ibrahim Zardan contributed 22 off 28 runs.
The Australia bowlers gave tough time to the Afghanistan batters.
Earlier, Afghanistan won the toss and opted to bat first at Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore. It is there final group-stage match.
The winner of this match will secure a spot in the semi-finals.
At the toss, Afghanistan captain Hashmatullah stated, “We will try to score as many runs as possible. Our spinners will be helpful, and we have discussed the mistakes we made earlier. There are no changes in our lineup,”.
Meanwhile, Australian captain Steve Smith said, “We expect a good contest. There are no changes in our team,”.
If Afghanistan loses this match, they will be eliminated from the tournament. However, if Australia loses, they will still have a chance to qualify for the semi-finals, depending on the outcome of Saturday's match between England and South Africa.
Currently, both Australia and South Africa have three points each, with South Africa having a better net run rate. Afghanistan is in third place with two points.
Playing XIs:
Afghanistan: 1 Ibrahim Zadran, 2 Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), 3 Sediqullah Atal, 4 Rahmat Shah, 5 Hashmatullah Shahidi (capt), 6 Azmatullah Omarzai, 7 Mohammad Nabi, 8 Gulbadin Naib, 9 Rashid Khan, 10 Noor Ahmad, 11 Fazalhaq Farooqi
Australia: 1 Travis Head, 2 Matt Short, 3 Steven Smith (capt), 4 Marnus Labuschagne, 5 Josh Inglis (wk), 6 Alex Carey, 7 Glenn Maxwell, 8 Ben Dwarshuis, 9 Nathan Ellis, 10 Adam Zampa, 11 Spencer Johnson
