The teams meet in a virtual knockout with a semifinal spot on the line and their cricket boards at loggerheads.
Who: Afghanistan vs Australia
What: ICC Champions Trophy – Group B game
When: Friday, February 28 at 2pm (09:00 GMT)
Where: Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore, Pakistan
Follow media’s live photo and text commentary stream from 05:00 GMT.
Afghanistan will have plenty on their minds when they take on Australia in their final group game of the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 in Lahore on Friday.
The rising force of men’s cricket will be against the most successful team in all ICC tournaments. But that’s not all. The match will be played under the cloud of lingering political tensions between both countries and their respective cricket boards.
Australia have refused to play against Afghanistan in their bilateral tournaments since the Taliban returned to power in the Asian country in 2021, a move not taken lightly by the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB).
The boycott has been criticised by ACB officials and Afghan players, as well as an outgoing head of the International Cricket Council (ICC).
The match also acts as a virtual knockout for both teams, providing them a chance to qualify for the semifinals.
Should Afghanistan make it through, it will be their first time in the last-four stage of an ICC event.
Australia, meanwhile, are no strangers to the knockout stages and will relish the chance to lift another one-day international (ODI) trophy, having won the 50-over World Cup in India in 2023.
Afghanistan coach Jonathan Trott believes his team’s performances at the 50-overs and Twenty20 World Cups mean there is no chance of Australia taking them lightly.
Afghanistan beat England by eight runs in Lahore on Wednesday
In their last two ICC tournaments, Trott’s men beat England, Pakistan and Sri Lanka to finish sixth at the 50-over World Cup and entered the semifinals of the T20 edition in 2024, beating Australia along the way.
“It’s all on the line, and since I’ve been coach, we’ve played against Australia three times and we’ve been in the game in each of those games,” former England batter Trott said before the match.
“We should take a lot of confidence from that … certainly what happened in the World Cup, T20 World Cup, and I say this to the players as well, that Afghanistan’s never going to be taken lightly ever again.
“In the past, perhaps people would have seen the fixture and thought it was a little bit easier than playing a historic Test nation.
“In this format, in these conditions, I don’t see that. Every game that we play is going to be competitive and every game we go into I expect to win.”
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