Follow UsAfghanistan captain Hashmatullah Shahidi has won the toss and has opted to bat first in this crucial encounter against Australia in the ICC Champions Trophy 2025. They go in with the same team that defeated England by eight runs in the previous encounter against England.
Australia, too, are unchanged. This is a must-win for both sides. The winner goes through to the semi-final, while for the team that loses, it could very well be all but over.
Read more about it here: How Can Afghanistan, Australia & South Africa Qualify For Semis?
Australia go into this game after thrashing England in their first game, chasing down over 350. However, their second game in Rawalpindi was washed out without toss. Before their historic win over England, Afghanistan crashed to a 107-run defeat versus South Africa.
There is an additional motive for both sides to win the match. While Australia would want to keep their ODI record unscathed against Afghanistan, Shahidi's men would look to avenge the loss they suffered in Mumbai in the 2023 World Cup, where Glenn Maxwell played a blinder to take his side home.
Here's what he said ahead of the game: 'You Think We Will Come Only To Play With Maxwell?' Shahidi Ahead Of Australia Clash
Rain could interrupt play on a few occasions. So, we could be in for a start-stop sort of a day today.
Afghanistan: Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Ibrahim Zadran, Sediqullah Atal, Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi (c), Azmatullah Omarzai, Mohammad Nabi, Gulbadin Naib, Rashid Khan, Noor Ahmad, Fazalhaq Farooqi
Australia: 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 (AFG): We will bat first because the wickets look good; it's a used pitch. England and Australia already played on this pitch, so it will slow down in the second half, and hopefully, our spinners will come into play. We were happy with the performance in our last game, we also have made plans against Australia and hopefully, we can rectify the mistakes we made against England. We are going with the same team.
Steve Smith (AUS): 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.
A lot of rain yesterday but the outfield is good. A maximum of 19 degrees today, so the conditions are very pleasant. The predicted rainfall is reducing by the minute, with a 25% chance of rain, and there's a nice wind blowing across the stadium. Talking about the dimensions, It's 72m to my left 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 captains go about restraining opposition 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.