Courtesy: Star Sports/ICC
During the first over of the must-win ICC Champions Trophy 2025 clash between Afghanistan and Australia at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore, opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz was left speechless after Spencer Johnson snuck in a yorker under his bat, to clean him up without troubling the scorers. The right-handed batter stood at the crease in disbelief for more than a few seconds as the Australian players gathered around Spencer Johnson to celebrate the opening wicket.
Notably, after winning the toss, the captain of Afghanistan, Hashmatullah Shahidi, decided to bat first on an overcast day at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore, while his opposing counterpart Steve Smith spoke about being comfortable in chasing down a score. The start in the first over for Afghanistan couldn’t have been any poorer as left-arm fast bowler Spencer Johnson didn’t allow Rahmanullah Gurbaz to take the attack to him before dismissing him for zero.
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After the fall of the first wicket in the first over, Afghanistan recovered quite well, reaching 54/1 in 10 overs with the centurion of the previous match, Ibrahim Zadran, finding himself unbeaten at the crease alongside Sediqullah Atal, as of this writing. Australia will be looking to make more inroads in the second power play stage with their premier spinner Adam Zampa expected to bowl majority of the overs in his spell.
Below are the playing XIs of Afghanistan and Australia for their highly-important ICC Champions Trophy 2025 clash:
Afghanistan: Ibrahim Zadran, Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Sediqullah Atal, Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi (c), Azmatullah Omarzai, Mohammad Nabi, Gulbadin Naib, Rashid Khan, Noor Ahmad, Fazalhaq Farooqi
Australia: Travis Head, Matt Short, Steve Smith (c), Marnus Labuschagne, Josh Inglis (wk), Alex Carey, Glenn Maxwell, Ben Dwarshuis, Nathan Ellis, Adam Zampa, Spencer Johnson
