Afghanistan vs Australia, Champions Trophy 2025 Highlights: Game called off due to rain in Lahore

India, having qualified for the Champions Trophy semifinals, faces a strong New Zealand team. While New Zealand's pace attack is acknowledged, the text suggests three specific players pose a greater threat to India's progress. (Read more)

Steve Smith, the Australian captain, showed sportsmanship by not taking a run-out opportunity when an Afghan batsman mistakenly left his crease during a crucial Champions Trophy match. (Read more)

Rain interrupted a crucial Champions Trophy match between Australia and Afghanistan, with Australia in a strong position. The outcome of this game will determine the semifinalists from Group B, which includes Australia, Afghanistan, and South Africa. England has already been eliminated, leading to Jos Buttler's resignation as captain. (Read more)

Sharjah, with its large Afghan community and history of supporting Afghan cricket, is keenly interested in the Afghanistan cricket team's performance in the Champions Trophy, particularly their crucial match against Australia. (Read more from Venkata Krishna B)

Jos Buttler's decision to step down as England's white-ball captain comes after a string of disappointing results. The team's exit from the Champions Trophy 2025 group stage, compounded by a seven-match losing streak that included a whitewash in India, clearly played a significant role in his decision. The particularly shocking loss to Afghanistan highlighted the team's struggles. His final match as captain against South Africa in Karachi marks the end of his tenure leading England's limited-overs sides. (Read more)

Both Nabi and Noor are operating at the moment for Austalia. Australian batters are milking the ball nicely into the gaps and why not things have been settled down in the first powerplay. As we update there is a slight bit of drizzle in the air and we have stopped and the groundsmen will cover the ground with immediate effect and  if we don not return Australia will still qualify because they have three points coming into the game and one more point will take them to four and Afghanistan to three. Unless South Africa loses tomorrow and loses massively, it will be Australia and South Africa who will qualify. Do stay with us for further updates.

We are done with the first powerplay, and Australia have completed almost 1/3rd of the chase. While it has been skillful batting, Afghanistan has been poor with their bowling and fielding. This is happening all too quickly for them, and it does have a lot of T20 batting vibe to it. Shahidi has turned to Noor Ahmed here, but we are afraid it is just a lost cause unless he manages to pick three-four wickets. Not just him, but whoever will partner him, and it has to happen quickly so that it breaks the momentum of this inning. Because as soon of the damage has been done and this game is as good as over already. As we update Head gets to 50.

It is not often that a side like Afghanistan finds itself in a situation like this, but here we are. 40 minutes into the chase, it almost feels like Australia has two points already in the bag, and it is just a matter of how long are they going to take to get there. This wicket is not going to get any worse if the dew comes in it will only get better. The likes of Rashid and Noor need run-rate pressure on batters to be effective they won't have that either. It seems just starting to feel like the end of a campaign to Afghanistan. The body language of the fielders seem to be off as well. They need something to lift them here and it just cannot be one wicket. 

Mathew Short, after surviving a few dropped catches, has eventually perished. It was a leading edge which Gulbadin managed to pick at mid-on; however, having said that, the damage has been done. Steven Smith has walked into the middle for Australia, and he has scored a couple of sublime boundaries to start off his innings. Australia have got to a flier in this chase, and the onus on Afghanistan for now is to stop the run flow first. The wicket is looking even better under the lights. Travis Head has got himself to a start, and he is looking in cracking touch here too.

This is a cracking start for Australia. Mathew Short seems to be suffering from some injury here as he seems to be just having trouble with some running between the wickets. However, he is compensating that with some blitzing shots in this early phase. There is quite a bit of swing and seam movement on offer for the Afghan bowlers, but they are not able to control the swing at the moment. As we update Farooqi has dropped the catch of Travis Head here. It was a short ball from Farooqi which he did try to get away but the ball hit the toe end and it carried straight to Rashid at mid-wicket but dropped it. 

Both Travis Head and Mathew Short are in the middle for Australia. Omarzai has taken the new ball for Afghanistan. Given the nature of the surface and power in the Australian batting line-up it should not be a massive score to chase however, Afghanistan does have the tweakers who can trouble the batters.

Mixed bag today, was struggling to find my lengths but was able to create a couple of opportunities which were taken. Bowled a couple of overs after the powerplay, it held on a bit back then but when the ball got older, it came on better onto the bat. These guys love bowling stump-to-stump, especially Rash (Rashid Khan), we need to play straight. We are happy with that score, they put us under pressure before in the 2023 ODI WC and 2024 T20 World Cup, tonight we need to be cautious.

That is the end of the innings. Dwarshuis picks up Omarzai and Noor Ahmed in the final over. Omarzai did play a lovely hand in the middle at the end when it seemed like Afghanistan would be bundled out for a sub-par total. Given how the ball has behaved as the innings went on it just might be an okayish total that Afghanistan can try and defend. However, Dew will have a big say in this chase. As per the Australian bowlers, everyone did their job and Steven Smith was brilliant with his tactics and field-changes throughout the afternoon. We will be right back with the chase do stay with us for all the updates. 

Omzarzai is playing a lovely hand here. He is dragging this Afghanistan total to a competitive one. While Australia had competent plans for all the batters it did seem like they were a tad bit surprised with Atal early on and Omarzai. What a lovely knock this turning out to be from the Afghan youngster. 

It has been quite an agricultural knock from Rashid Khan. He did attempt a few shots but could not get anything away. eventually, he top-edged one, and Longon fileder had to come the quarter off the way to take the catch. This is what has been the story of the day. Whenever it seemed like Afghanistan had something going for themselves, they lost a wicket and every time it seemed like Australia should now control the proceedings from here on, the bowlers have come back to string on a  few ordinary overs. For Afghanistan, Omarzai needs to stay till the end to get as many runs as possible.

This is a handy partnership between Rashid Khan and Omarzai. They are not hitting convincingly, especially the former, but Afghanistan will take whatever comes their way at this point in time. They are 20 away from 250, with five overs remaining. They will back themselves to get those runs from here on. But if these two manage to bat till the 50th over mark, they can even dream off getting to 280, which would require quite a bit of rebuilding. While it has been quite a poor batting effort from Afghanistan, they always find a way to fight back. That is the feature which made them win against England, and they are displaying the same thing again today. As we update Rashid Khan departs. 

Anything less than 300 will be hard to defend on this wicket. It is improbable that Afghanistan will get there from here, but they need to get at least 250 just to give themselves a chance. However, it seems like Afghanistan has not got this right from their perspective. Winning the toss and opting to bat first, they would have wanted to put on at least 280-300 on the board, if not 330; however, they just lost the plot. Omarzai in the middle is batting well but the challenge for him is when to pull the plug and decide from here on we will go at gear five. Rashid Khan on the other hand from the other end only knows one way to play. 

Another one falls for Afghanistan, and it is Gulbadin who tried to hit Ellis on the leg-side, but it was a pace-on seam-up stock delivery from him, and the ball took a leading edge and keeper Inglis took a lovely catch. This has been a sorry batting card for Afghanistan. They are masters of building partnerships regardless of what the game situation and opposition is. However, today that is where they have faltered. whenever it seemed like a good big partnership was brewing they kept losing wickets and which is has been the key reason behind their current predicament. There has been nothing in this wicket but it just has been poor batting from Afghanistan.

That was a poor runout by Nabi. This has been a very sluggish batting performance from Afghanistan on this flat wicket. There are runs to be had, but they have just found ways to get themselves out after doing all the hard work seeing through the new ball was the biggest ask on this pitch they did that but however, they are in poor position right now. It did seem like they were good for 330-340 the way they were batting in those first 10-15 overs; however, things have turned here, especially after the 30th over. Smith has been quite astute with his bowling changes, he has not taken anything for granted, he stuck to the plans and just let the bowlers respond to different challenges or tasks given to them. 

Shahidi tried to play a lofted reverse sweep over the ring; however, did get any where in the middle and was caught by the fine-leg inside the ring. He just could not get his innings going Shahidi did today; usually, he tends to act as the glue for the top order and middle order to come up with a good score, building partnerships through the middle has been his role. However, today, he consumed the deliveries but not have too many runs to show for it. Australia have tightened up things in the last 30 minutes or so. Afghanistan are just starting to lose momentum in this game. As we update, Afghanistan has lost Mohammad Nabi too, here in the middle. 

It has been quite an indifferent bowling performance from Australia. There have been moments that looked like they would run-through Afghanistan here, but that did not happen, and there have been moments when Afghan batters looked like they would pull the game from Australia, but that did not happen either. Whenever the balance of the game has tiled, the Australian attack either came up with a wicket and a string of poor overs following that wicket, which just hasn't let the either team take any ascendency in this innings thus far. To be fair to Australia once the shine has gone off the ball there was nothing in the surface its just Smith's clever bowling changes and at times tidy bowling which has stopped Afghanistan to some extent. As we update Shahidi falls.

Australia has turned to Spencer Johnson, and he picks up the wicket of Atal. It was the back of the length delivery which Atal tried to hit on up, and the ball carried to short cover. That is a huge wicket for Australia it just might open the gates for them, given the current game situation. Omarzai has walked into the middle. he did bat well in the last game, but he had the support of set-batter from the other end. Today, he has Shahidi, who himself seems to struggle to get adjusted to the pace of the surface thus far. Also, that wicket will encourage Steven Smith to bring back his strike bowler Adam Zampa back into the attack who did take a bit of pasting from Atal.

Sediq has clearly changed the gears here. He is playing cracking shots on either side of the wicket. He is targeting the spinners predominantly; however, he is not sparing the seamers as well who are erring on their lengths. Nathan Ellis has come into the attack, and Sadiq is waiting on the backfoot for the slower one, and as soon as he is bowling, he is pummeling it through the cow-corner region. And as per the spinners he is targeting the first ball and hitting them for six, and once that is done, he is rotating the strike for the remainder of the over. Problems for Smith he needs to control Sediq here and stop the runflow.

Steven Smith has been quite ruthless with his bowling changes in the middle-overs here. We have seen this in the last game as well. The moment he felt the bowlers did not have anything to offer in that particular stage of the game, he would just remove him from attack only after bowling one over. Once again, Dwarshuis was brought into the attack, and it did go for 10 runs, his slower balls were not sticking in the surface, and his stock length was in the hittable zone for the batters; hence, Smith did not let things drift away and he brought in the change. We did see England use Jamie Overton for an over too many in this passage of play against Afghanistan which essentially turned the tide in middle overs. 

Atal has scored a nice half-century here. Right since he has walked into the middle, his intent has been put the pressure back on the bowlers. While his strike rate would not reflect the intent with which he batted in the early phase, all the plays and misses he had against Johnson early on in the innings would probably reflect on the highlights package. However, since the spinners have come into the attack, Atal has been to get those boundaries away with a bit more ease. The job for him is not done yet. He has to go on and convert this inning into a three-digit mark for Afghanistan to put a total on the board which would be competitive against Australia. 

It was a short ball that was there to cut however, Shah did get the bounce, and it seemed like the pace of the delivery too wrong, and nicked it to the keeper. Australia has pulled back things nicely here. Since the spinners have come into the attack, the scoring too seems to have slowed down. With two left-handers in the middle Smith too has turned to Short from Zampa's end. It is an excellent situation in the game where Smith can get through the overs of his part-timers. As per Afghanistan they have to do it all over again which is to build a partnership here by playing low-risk cricket.

It has been a bittersweet start for both sides of this game. Both have had their moments to own the passage of play, but none could take advantage. There was enough help for the seamers early on, but the Australian new ball bowlers missed their mark with their accuracy, and Afghanistan, just when it seemed like they were in control of this contest lost the wicket of Zadran. It is going to be a fascinating passage of play coming up for Afghanistan. The likes of Atal has gotten himself in and it is important that he converts this start into a substantial score and anchors the innings through till around the 35th over mark. As we update Glenn Maxwell picks Rahmat Shah.

Adam Zampa gets the danger man Zadran. He was looking in very good touch yet again however, Zampa does the trick for Australia. Rahmat Shah has walked into the middle. He too scored a magnificent 100 against South Africa, and an innings like that today will help Afghanistan in a big way. Meanwhile, Adam Zampa has started here quite well. He is tossing the ball up nicely, and seems like there is just a bit of drift in the air as well for him. Atal on the other hand has now got his eye in and he along with Rahmat Shah needs to build a partnership and bat for another 10 overs in gear 2 or 3.

While Atal has looked a bit touchy in the first few overs, Zadran has played a lovely hand. He did get away with a few boundaries and is into his 20s. From Afghanistan's perspective,, they have done the hard job without much damage done, which is to see off the swinging ball. Now, it is all about putting a total on the board. While there were opinions that 320 they scored against England was on par, but from where they were after the powerplay to get to the score they did get was remarkable. But today, with the platform, they can get even more. If they play proper cricket from here on they can get to 340-350 mark.

For all the swing there has been on offer on this pitch, Afghanistan has only lost one wicket. There where plenty of plays and misses by Atal against Johnson, and the left-armer did slip in a few wides as well in his opening burst. What Johnson could have done better is pitched a bit more up and made sure he hit the seam rather than try and get that swing of every delivery. However, that is what the role of Starc has been over the years in this attack, which has worked successfully. Meanwhile the likes of Hazleowod and Pat Cummins would exploit the surfaces with their wonderful seam position. 

Both the balls seem to have lost a bit of shine now, the pitched-up deliveries are not moving, and the Afghan players have been able to drive with a lot of assurance. It has been a good pitch here in Lahore. Two games that have happened here have produced some cracking cricket. Seam bowlers did get something out of the new ball, and once the ball got softer in the first innings, there was a bit of help for the tweakers and seamers who bowled slower ones. However, the same could not be said to be true in the evening as the ball got older. In the evening, the dew started to set in, and things changed quite considerably. 

Spencer Johnson in that last over has been brilliant. In the first two overs he was not able to control that swing, but in the last one, he was perfect. He is putting the ball up there in the driving zone and the ball is moving nicely for him. Usually, the Australian way is to give a short, sharp burst for the bowlers,, especially for someone who is as quick as Johnson however, given how this passage of play has gone thus far, we might see these two left-arm seamers operate through the powerplay before Nathan Ellis comes into the attack who is more a middle-over bowler than swinger and seamer with the new ball.

Spencer Johnson is able to get lot of swing here. We did see a bit of this in the last game at this venue, but it is doing a lot more. So much so that Johnson is not able to control the swing, and he has slipped in a few down the leg-side, which have gone across the left-hander from outside the off-stump. This will be a tough challenge for Afghanistan This is what has happened against England, and they ended up losing three wickets in the Powerplay. However, Zadran's out of world innings did help them to get to a decent score on the board. Today they might be looking to approach a bit differently especially against this new ball.

That was a cracking delivery from Johnson. Gurbaz looked in disbelief after his stumps were rattled and stayed there for a while before taking forever to walk back to the pavilion. It was a perfect yorker from Johnson, and the ball moved a tad bit to rattle Gurbaz's stumps. He did get out in a similar fashion in Afghanistan's last game against England when Jofra Archer bowled a similar one. That was a tad bit back of the length however, this was a perfect-yorker. Neverthless having said that no batter could have done anything about both those deliveries and as an opener you tend to get them from time to time. 

The national anthems are done, and the weather is looking lovely for a cracking game of cricket. While it is very much possibility that we might have another high-scoring affair on the horizon, we have to wait and see. Whatever maybe the case we will have a cracking game of cricket do stay with us. 

A lot of rain yesterday but the outfield is good. A maximum of 19 degrees today so the conditons are very pleasant. The predicted rainfall is reducing by the minute with a 25 percent chance of rain and there's a nice wind blowing across the stadium. Talking about the dimensions, It's 72m to my left and 63m to my right and 75m down the ground. I'm seeing a very good surface, it's a run-scoring fest, 300 runs on all four occasions have been scored here in this tournament. It's how about captains go about restraining oppositions both in the first innings and the second innings. Omarzai used the back of the length area really well in the last game here and that area will offer help for the seamers

Matthew Short, Travis Head, Steven Smith(c), Marnus Labuschagne, Josh Inglis, Alex Carey(w), Glenn Maxwell, Ben Dwarshuis, Nathan Ellis, Adam Zampa, Spencer Johnson

Rahmanullah Gurbaz(w), Ibrahim Zadran, Sediqullah Atal, Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi(c), Azmatullah Omarzai, Mohammad Nabi, Gulbadin Naib, Rashid Khan, Noor Ahmad, Fazalhaq Farooqi

We would have bowled first, uncertain overhead conditions and there's the dew factor as well. All the guys are doing good, should be a good contest, looking forward to it. Coming here with good intent and aggression and ready to get started. Same team for us.

We will bat first because the wickets looks good, it's a used pitch, England and Australia already played on this pitch so it will slow down in the second half. We were happy with the performance in our last game, we also have made plans against Australia. We are going with the same team.

Though the Australian batting line up did come through against England when they face Afghanistan they would need their experinced players at the top to start well to negotiate the Afghan spinners. Though Jos Inglis with his ton in Sri Lanka has showed he has the game to deal with the tweakers but the Afghan spinners are different challenge altogether and will need a different skill-set

Regardless of the dew factor Afghanistan continued to play with three spinning options in their clash against England and it did bear them fruits. While Rashid Khan and Noor Ahmed have looked a bit off-colour in this tournament so far regardless Afghanistan would be hoping the duo would get into form in the final group game and help the side qualify for the semi-final.

Both Spencer Johnson and Ben Dwarshuis are left-armers in the Australian attack. While the latter did pick up a couple of early wickets did seem like he lost a bit of gas in the final over of the innings. Australia does have an experinced Sean Abbott warming the bench who not only is a decent bowler but also provides batting depth coming at number eight.

"You think we will come only to play with Maxwell? Do you think it will be like that? We have planning for all Australian team."

Afghanistan head coach Jonathan Trott believes his giant-killing team has done enough to keep Australia on their toes. Lahore will set stage for a mouth-watering clash and Trott expects it to be a fiercely fought contest. (READ MORE)

Afghanistan is on the cusp of something special here this afternoon. A win would inevitably place them in the semi-finals ahead of heavyweights Australia and South Africa. A defeat would mean the Aussies would have to depend on their beloved 'Poms' to stop the Proteas in the last group game in Pool B. 

The Gaddafi Stadium has provided pitches which are conducive for batting in this tournament so far. In the first game in Lahore, Australia chased down 351 which England put on and in the second game when Afghanistan met England over 600 runs were scored overall. The pitch will play similarly on Friday with batters enjoying the conditions.

Afghanistan predicted XI vs Australia: Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Ibrahim Zadran, Sediqullah Atal, Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi (c), Azmatullah Omarzai, Gulbadin Naib, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Noor Ahmad, Fazalhaq Farooqi

The temperatures in Lahore are expected to stay around 20 degrees centigrade throughout the day. While there is possibility of dew in the evening Afghanistan would back themselves to bat first and Australia would want to chase.

Australia predicted XI: Matthew Short, Travis Head, Steven Smith (c), Marnus Labuschagne, Josh Inglis (wk), Alex Carey, Glenn Maxwell, Ben Dwarshuis, Nathan Ellis, Adam Zampa, Spencer Johnson

Hashmatullah Shahidi did not need another reminder of the Glenn Maxwell whirlwind from the 2023 ODI World Cup. But when a daring reporter popped the question on Thursday, the Afghanistan captain did not hold back. READ MORE!

Afghanistan CT 2025 squad: Hashmatullah Shahidi (c), Ibrahim Zadran, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Sediqullah Atal, Rahmat Shah, Ikram Alikhil, Gulbadin Naib, Azmatullah Omarzai, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Nangyal Kharoti, Noor Ahmad, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Farid Malik, Naveed Zadran. Reserves: Darwish Rasooli, Bilal Sami.

Australia CT 2025 squad: Matthew Short, Travis Head, Steven Smith(c), Marnus Labuschagne, Josh Inglis(w), Alex Carey, Glenn Maxwell, Ben Dwarshuis, Nathan Ellis, Adam Zampa, Spencer Johnson, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Aaron Hardie, Sean Abbott, Tanveer Sangha

Afghanistan must beat two-time champion Australia in its last Group B match at the same venue Friday to seal its second straight semifinal in an ICC tournament after playing last year's T20 World Cup playoffs.

England, which lost a high-scoring game to Australia at the same venue, will wrap up its disappointing run in the tournament with the match against semifinal contender South Africa at Karachi on Saturday.

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy. 

Today the action will shift to Lahore, where Afghanistan will face Australia. It is a do-or-die match for Afghanistan. If they will win, they will be through to the semis, but if they lose their campaign will end. 

Stay tune for all the live updates.