‌AUS vs AFG | Twitter reacts to Head’s blitz and Lahore rain keeps Afghanistan’s qualification chance in jeopardy

ByArijit Kundu,SportsCafe Editor

02/28/2025

116

Rain played spoilsport in Afghanistan's Cricket Champions trophy chances

The important clash between Australia and Afghanistan have been abandoned due to thirty minutes of rain in Lahore. Sediqullah Atal’s 85 and Azmatullah Omarzai’s unbridled 67 propelled Afghanistan to 273 before Travis Head’s quickfire fifty was paused by rainfall, leading to abandoned affair.

Afghanistan got the opportunity to follow their template of bat first and defend the total, but the setback of Rahmanullah Gurbaz decreased their scoring rate against the new ball. Ibrahim Zadran and Sediqullah Atal added 70 runs together after a 54-run powerplay before the former was outdone by Adam Zampa in the 14th over. Rahmat Shah followed suit in the 19th over before Azmatullah Omarzai and Atal consolidated 68 runs together. When the game seemed to be shifting in favour of the Atalans, Johnson returned for his second spell and reduced the 23-year-old 15 runs short of his second century. This made way for a succession of wickets at regular intervals as Afghanistan’s score read 199/7 in 40 overs. However, the Asian side managed to gain 74 runs in the third powerplay with Omarzai smashing 67* off 63 balls.

In response, Australia got off to a brief start as Matt Short and Travis Head capitalised on Afghanistan’s dropped chances and sloppy new ball bowling to gather 44 runs together. A terrific backpeddaling catch from Gulbadin Naib in the fifth over lead to Short’s departure for 20 before Steve Smith played second fiddle to Head’s wonderful fifty, steering Australia to 109/1 in 12.5 overs before heavy rain poured and stopped play. After almost 90 minutes of pause, the groundstaff failed to prepare the field in due time with a solo cover over the strip as the only measure during thirty minutes of shower. Eventually, the supper soppers and the manual tasks bowed down as umpires decided to shake hands with the respective captains and call it a day with points being shared. Now, Afghanistan will have to rely on England to defeat South Africa by a hefty margin for their qualification.

Simple catch!

Dropped catch of Head by Rashid Khan 😲 😳

Catches wins the match 🌿

Head another 100 loading 😅
— 𝕌𝕥𝕙𝕒𝕪𝕒 (@Uthaya2911)

Aus Qualified!

🚨 PLAY ABANDONED DUE TO WET OUTFIELD AT LAHORE 🚨

- Australia are into the semi finals of Champions Trophy. 🏆
— A D U (@cricfootadnan)

Congrats Ausis!

AUSTRALIA QUALIFIED FOR THE SEMIFINALS OF CHAMPIONS TROPHY.
— Furqan👑🖤 (@furqan_ashfaq77)

Match Abandoned!

🚨Breaking News

Match between Australia 🇦🇺 and Afghanistan 🇦🇫 has been abandoned

Australia 🇦🇺 qualifies for the Semi Final’s of ICC Champions Trophy 2025
— Numair Tariq (@NumairTariq2)

haha!

It barely rained for 15 minutes

What kind of drainage system is this in Lahore

What was the point of the much hyped up renovation
— AayushKataria (@aayush11kataria)

Ausis Qualified!

The match between has been called off.
— Furqan👑🖤 (@furqan_ashfaq77)

Match Abandoned!

The two umpires head up to the dressing rooms and shake hands with a captain each and as we feared, the MATCH HAS BEEN CALLED OFF
— Fourth Umpire (@UmpireFourth)

Good!