Courtesy: ICC/Star Sports
Afghanistan’s Azmatullah Omarzai put up a show with his bat in the death overs of Afghanistan’s encounter against Australia in the ICC Champions Trophy 2025, going past his fifty. These two teams are playing each other at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore in their respective final game of the group stage of the Champions Trophy with very high stakes on it. A win for any of these two sides is extremely important in order for them to qualify for the semi-finals of the tournament.
The 24-year old Afghanistan all-rounder, Azmatullah Omarzai has really made a statement for himself by playing some phenomenal cricket with the bat in this match. He racked up a score of 67 in 63 deliveries; hitting five sixes and some of them in the crucial death overs. He was dismissed by Ben Dwarshuis in the final over of the first innings.
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Chances of a win looking slim for Afghanistan?
Earlier, Afghanistan won the toss and decided to bat first in this match, however things didn't go as they would have liked. Openers Gurbaz and the hero of the previous match; Ibrahim Zadran were dismissed early on by Australia’s bowling attack. Sediqullah Atal scored an important 85, also building a crucial partnership with skipper Hasmatullah Shahidi of 68 runs after the fall of the third wicket, giving some stability to Afghanistan.
In the later stages of the innings, Azmatullah Omarzai powered Afghanistan's innings, scoring some crucial runs in the death overs and taking his team to a decent total of 273. The big question now is whether it will be enough as Australia will look to chase down this score and secure semi-finals spot, knocking out Afghanistan in another major ICC tournament in the process. Afghanistan has a good bowling attack with names like Rashid Khan, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Noor Ahmad etc. They will have some serious work to do if they want to contain the Australian side today.
