Afghanistan vs Australia Preview & Prediction | 2025 ICC Champions Trophy | Group Stage

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Afghanistan’s memorable victory over England sets up this showdown against Australia in which the winner will punch their spot in the ICC Champions Trophy semi-finals.

Date & time: Friday 28th February 2025: USA PT – 1:00am / USA ET – 4:00am / UK – 9:00am

Venue: Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore, Pakistan

Weather: A chance of thundery showers with light winds and temperatures touching 20c. 

How to watch: USA – Willow TV / UK – Sky Sports & Sky Go

How to get tickets for the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy: Click here for the latest ticket information for Afghanistan vs Australia

Afghanistan Preview: Zadran and Azmatullah inspire success

Afghanistan won the toss and batted first against England, which didn’t look a smart move after Jofra Archer reduced them to 3/37. However, Afghanistan rallied with a magnificent 177 from Ibrahim Zadran propelling them to 325/7 in front of a delighted crowd full of Afghanistan fans. They had more reason to cheer in the run chase, their side holding their nerve and bowling out England for 317 to win by 8 runs, with Azmatullah Omarzai’s five-wicket-haul proving inspirational.

Australia Preview: Proteas washout delays Aussie progress

After beating England in their opening game, Australia were denied the opportunity to secure their passage through to the semi-finals as their match against South Africa was abandoned without a ball bowled due to rain. This was by no means a disaster for the Aussies, who will finish in the top two of their group with a win here, although defeat would almost certainly knock them out of the tournament when considering their net-run-rate compared to that of South Africa.

Afghanistan Betting Analysis

Most expected spin to be the main factor in Afghanistan’s success over England, but instead it was Azmatullah Omarzai’s consistently accurate right-arm medium-fast bowling that proved the downfall of Jos Buttler’s side. Azmatullah drew mistakes with his consistency and a similar level of performance here across his allocated overs should see Australia struggle against his bowling as well. Therefore, consider backing Azmatullah to accumulate 2+ wickets.

Australia Betting Analysis

Afghanistan initially struggled with the fast bowling of Jofra Archer vs England, especially early on in their innings. With that in mind, Australia’s Spencer Johnson will be quietly confident of success against Hashmatullah Shahidi’s men when taking into account the speed he can generate through his right-arm quick bowling. Despite taking no wickets against England, it would be no surprise to see him bounce back strongly and so it’s worth backing him with a small stake to finish as Australia’s top bowler. 

Afghanistan vs Australia Expert Prediction

Afghanistan will sense the opportunity to record another historic victory and with that a place in the semi-finals for themselves. But Australia are made of far more sterner stuff than England and make a habit of passing these sort of obstacles regularly in major ICC tournament play. Had it been Australia chasing 326 rather than England, then the likelihood is that the Aussies would’ve gotten home.

We often see an underdog nation record a big upset and then immediately lose their next game as it’s so difficult to reproduce those performance levels, especially when considering the fast turnaround. When factoring this into things, it would be an even bigger surprise than what we saw on Wednesday if Australia don’t win this one, provided rain doesn’t interfere with play.

Afghanistan vs Australia Top Tip: Australia to win