Afghanistan Struggle To Score 273 vs Australia: The Afghanistan Cricket Team scratched and clawed to score 273 against Australia in a do-or-die game in the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 while batting first.
Afghanistan is taking on Australia in Match 10 of CT 2025. This Group B game will be crucial in deciding the two teams that will make it to the semifinals from this group. Being played in Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium, the Afghans won the toss and decided to bat first, a surprising choice but one that was successful in their recent win against England.
Afghanistan Struggle To Score 273 vs Australia
However, the start of the inning was not a good one for Afghanistan, as in the very first over, star batter Rahmanullah Gurbaz was bowled by Spencer Johnson for a duck, failing for a third match in a row in this tournament.
But then, the hero of the last match, Ibrahim Zadran, partnered up with Sediqullah Atal to bat for 13 overs together for a 67-run partnership before Zadran was fixed by Adam Zampa.
Sediqullah anchored the inning in its first half, scoring 85 runs in 95 deliveries and batting till the 32nd over. But once he got out, and the score was 159/4, the floodgates opened. Captain Hashmatullah Shahidi and veteran all-rounders Mohammad Nabi and Gulbadin Naib were dismissed for 20, 1, and 4 runs, respectively, before the end of the 40th over.
With Afghanistan at 199/7 at the end of the 40th over, some heroics were needed for the team to reach a respectable score, and those heroics would come from 2024 ICC ODI Men’s Cricketer of the Year, Azmatullah Omarzai, who went on to score 67 runs in 63 deliveries to take his side to 273 runs in 50 overs. Spin maestro Rashid Khan also played a role with the batting, scoring 19 runs off 17 deliveries in the death overs.
Check Out: Afghanistan Struggle To Score 273 vs Australia
Although the Afghans had to play well to reach this score, it is too far below par to give a team like Afghanistan, who were already underdogs before the match started, a realistic chance of winning this match.
For Australia, pacer Ben Dwarshuis took three wickets and gave 47 runs in nine overs at an economy of 5.22. Spencer Johnson and Adam Zampa took two wickets each, while Nathan Ellis and Glenn Maxwell took one wicket each.
For Afghanistan, if they win this match, they will qualify for the semifinals. On the other hand, if Australia won, they and South Africa both would qualify. However, if they lose, they would need South Africa to lose by a big margin against England to make it to the next round of the ICC Champion Trophy 2025.
Check Out: Afghanistan Struggle To Score 273 vs Australia
Get the Latest Cricket Updates at IceCric.News. Also, Follow Our Social Media for Live Updates – Facebook & Instagram.
