Australia v Afghanistan, Champs Trophy: All you need to know

Match details

Who: Australia v Afghanistan

What: Champions Trophy, Group B, Match 10

When: February 28, 2025, first ball 8pm AEDT

Where: Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore

How to watch: Amazon's Prime Video

Live scores: Match Centre

Officials: Alex Wharf and Kumar Dharmasena (on field), Chris Gaffaney (third), Richard Kettleborough (fourth), Andrew Pycroft (referee)

Highlights, news and reactions post-play: cricket.com.au, the CA Live app and the Unplayable Podcast. Listen and subscribe to the podcast below: 

Australia's fixtures

February 22: Australia beat England by five wickets

February 25: No result v South Africa

February 28: Afghanistan v Australia, Lahore (8pm AEDT)

Broadcast info

As is now the case (and will be until the end of 2027), Amazon's Prime Video holds the rights to all ICC events. That means no free-to-air TV for this tournament – streaming it is your only option.  

Prime Video is included in an Amazon Prime membership, and for new customers to Amazon the good news is that their 30-day free trial will last the entirety for the tournament – from Australia's first match to the final. And you can sign up here for a Prime Video 30-day free trial.

The squads

Australia: Sean Abbott, Alex Carey, Ben Dwarshuis, Nathan Ellis, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Spencer Johnson, Aaron Hardie, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Marnus Labuschagne, Glenn Maxwell, Tanveer Sangha, Matt Short, Steve Smith, Adam Zampa.

 

Travelling reserve: Cooper Connolly

Afghanistan: Hashmatullah Shahidi (c), Rahmat Shah (vc), Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Ikram Alikhil (wk), Ibrahim Zadran, Sediqullah Atal, Azmatullah Omarzai, Mohammad Nabi, Gulbadin Naib, Rashid Khan, Noor Ahmad, Fazal Haq Farooqi, Naveed Zadran, Farid Ahmad Malik, Nangyal Kharoti.

 

Travelling reserves: Darwish Rasooli, Bilal Sami

Local knowledge

The Aussies are back in Lahore, the scene of their opening match victory over England, where over 700 runs were scored in the match. 

So, it goes without saying that we should expect similarly batter-friendly conditions in this one too. For the Aussies, the spin of Adam Zampa and Marnus Labuschagne proved very effective, especially at the end of the innings, while for the English, their spinners were good too but were let down by their expensive fast bowlers. 

Head-to-head

There's not a lot of history to speak of when comparing Australia and Afghanistan, especially since Cricket Australia put a pause on all bilateral cricket between the nations due to "deteriorating human rights conditions for women" in the Taliban-controlled country. 

However, the sides still play each other in tournament play and of late, Afghanistan hold the advantage of Australia. 

In the 2023 ODI World Cup, Afghanistan were completely dominating Australia and would have recorded a famous victory in Mumbai, if not for perhaps the greatest 50-over innings of all time by Glenn Maxwell. 

At last year's T20 World Cup in the West Indies, Afghanistan clinched victory in the Super Eight stage by 21 runs, their first-ever win over Australia in any format. 

Possible line-ups

Australia: Matt Short, Travis Head, Steve Smith (c), Marnus Labuschagne, Josh Inglis (wk), Alex Carey, Glenn Maxwell, Sean Abbott, Ben Dwarshuis, Nathan Ellis, Adam Zampa

With only one match remaining in the group, Australia need to weigh up whether they stick with the line-up that polished off England or get some extra members of the squad into the tournament.

Sean Abbott and Tanveer Sangha are the reserve bowling options, Abbott could be considered as a point of difference with the ball and some extra batting, while Sangha could be an option given how effective spin was in the first match. 

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

Afghanistan's strength is their quality spinners so expect them to lean into that as they seek another big scalp to end the group stage and qualify for the semi-finals.

Form guide

Past 10 matches, most recent first. W: win, L: loss, NR: no result   

Australia: NR W L L L L W W L L 

Australia's washout with South Africa on Tuesday night makes this a must-win clash with Afghanistan to progress to the semi-finals. The Aussies are riding high from their win over England in their tournament opener, which snapped a four-game losing streak in the ODI format.

Afghanistan: W L W W NR W L W L W

The Afghans are also riding high after stunning England again to knock them out of the tournament. A vastly improved side under Hashmatullah Shahidi, Afghanistan overcame a humbling start to the Champions Trophy after falling short to South Africa by 107 runs in their tournament opener.

The Afghans played no ODIs in January heading into the tournament, but defeated Zimbabwe 2-0 in their most recent bilateral series in December. 

But what is the Champions Trophy? 

It's been eight years since the last one so that's a very valid question!

Think of it as a mini-World Cup. Only eight sides, three pool matches each. It's short, sharp and over in about a fortnight. You'll notice regular sides like Sri Lanka and West Indies (both previous winners) have missed the cut for this tournament, as only the top eight ranked sides from the 2023 World Cup (including hosts Pakistan) qualified.  

It was introduced as the 'ICC KnockOut Trophy', designed to raise funds for the development of the game in non-Test playing nations. Originally scheduled every two years, that was spaced out to every four between 2009-2017 but it was placed firmly on the back-burner when the Covid-19 pandemic hit the world, and was replaced entirely for a period to hold more T20 World Cups. 

Australia have won the thing twice, back-to-back in 2006 and 2009. Part of the tournament's gimmick is that teams who win the trophy are awarded white blazers as part of their reward for taking out the title. 

In 2002 the final was washed out, so India and Sri Lanka fronted up again on the reserve day. Unfortunately, the back up was also rained off, so the teams shared the title. 

Previous winners:

1998 (in Bangladesh): South Africa

 

2000 (in Kenya): New Zealand

 

2002 (in Sri Lanka): India and Sri Lanka

 

2004 (in England): West Indies

 

2006 (in India): Australia

 

2009 (in South Africa): Australia

 

2013 (in England, Wales): India 

 

2017 (in England, Wales): Pakistan

Beyond the white jackets, the winning team will pocket a grand prize of A$3.5m while the runners up will take home a far-from-shabby A$1.77m.

2025 ICC Men's Champions Trophy

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Australia's Group B fixtures

February 22: beat England by five wickets (15 balls remaining)

February 25: no result v South Africa

February 28: Afghanistan v Australia, Lahore (8pm AEDT)

March 4: Semi-final 1, Dubai (8pm AEDT)

March 5: Semi-final 2, Lahore (8pm AEDT)

March 9: Final, Lahore or Dubai (8pm AEDT)

Australia squad: Steve Smith (c), Sean Abbott, Alex Carey, Ben Dwarshuis, Nathan Ellis, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Spencer Johnson, Aaron Hardie, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Marnus Labuschagne, Glenn Maxwell, Tanveer Sangha, Matt Short, Adam Zampa. Travelling reserve: Cooper Connolly