AFG vs AUS Match Prediction & Analysis
An upset and some poor weather has seen this game between Afghanistan and Australia suddenly take on a lot more significance with the winner being guaranteed a place in the semi-final of the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy!
Afghanistan showed that they are now a consistent team in this format when they beat England for the second successive ODI with an eight run victory on Wednesday. It was a huge win for Afghanistan who had begun the tournament with a very poor performance against South Africa on the previous Friday.
Australia secured a famous victory of their own over England last weekend but they were deprived the opportunity to make it two wins from two when rain in Rawalpindi saw the game abandoned without a ball bowled.
It all leads to this game with everything to play for in Lahore.
TEAMS PREVIEW
Afghanistan Preview
To win a game in the ICC Champions Trophy, a team often needs at least one player to produce a brilliant performance and fortunately for Afghanistan they had two players who were on a different level on Wedensday.
With the bat, Ibrahim Zadran struck the highest ever individual score in the ICC Champions Trophy with his 177 runs from 146 balls and he will be joined in the batting line-up by captain Hashmatullah Shahidi, Azmatullah Omarzai and Mohammad Nabi who all made scores of 40+. Rahmat Shah disappointed against England but is in fine form at the moment.
Omarzai dominated with the ball on Wednesday, taking 5/58 including the final dismissal to secure the victory. Rashid Khan has been consistent but the experienced all-rounder Nabi has picked up two wickets in both games so far in this campaign.
Afghanistan Predicted Playing XI:
Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Ibrahim Zadran, Sediqullah Atal, Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi (c), Azmatullah Omarzai, Mohammad Nabi, Gulbadin Naib, Rashid Khan, Noor Ahmad, Fazalhaq Farooqi
Afghanistan Actual Playing XI:
Hashmatullah Shahidi, Ibrahim Zadran, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Sediqullah Atal, Rahmat Shah, Azmatullah Omarzai, Gulbadin Naib, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Noor Ahmad
Australia Preview
Very few cricket followers ever write Australia off and it was no surprise to see them end a poor run of results not just in ODI cricket but also in ICC Champions Trophy fixtures with their five wicket success over England last Saturday.
However, a tougher task against South Africa never got underway in Rawalpindi but that should have given their inexperienced bowling attack plenty of rest-time ahead of this match.
Josh Inglis, Matthew Short and Alex Carey stood out with the bat against England but it was Glenn Maxwell who produced one of the all-time ODI innings the last time they played Afghanistan. And with Travis Head and Steven Smith in the line-up, there are plenty of runs available for the Green and Gold.
Ben Dwarshuis is likely to be the main pace bowling threat with the experienced Adam Zampa looking to continue his fine record against Afghanistan.
Australia Predicted Playing 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
Australia Actual Playing XI:
Alex Carey, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Marnus Labuschagne, Matthew Short, Steven Smith, Glenn Maxwell, Nathan Ellis, Adam Zampa, Ben Dwarshuis, Spencer Johnson
Weather Conditions
There is likely to be some rain on Thursday evening into Friday morning in Lahore but by the time this game gets underway on Friday afternoon we expect dry weather. Humidity levels will also increase from 7pm onwards.
AFG vs AUS Pitch Report
Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore Pitch Report
Pitch ConditionBatting
Batting ConditionsHigh Scoring
Pace BowlingPace Bounce
Spin BowlingAverage Turn
This is an excellent batting pitch which has yielded four team scores of 300+ so far in this ICC Champions Trophy. The only issue has been in the powerplay where at least two batters have been dismissed in all four innings.
Toss: To Bowl
So far in the tournament, we have seen a team win from batting first as well as bowling first. But with humidity likely to increase across the second innings of the game, we predict that both sides would want to bowl first in this match.
