Underdogs with lethal bite
Lahore: Eyeing a semifinal spot, Australia’s historic pedigree in cricket’s biggest tournaments will count for nothing when they run into Afghanistan in the Champions Trophy here on Friday.
Basking in the afterglow of their memorable win over England at the Gaddafi Stadium on Wednesday, Afghanistan have a realistic chance of making their second successive semifinals of a global event, less than a year after their entry into the last-four stage of the T20 World Cup in the Americas.
On the other hand, a win for Australia will secure their passage to the semifinals of the tournament while eliminating Afghanistan with a game to spare. However, it is easier said than done. For one, for all their firepower in batting, Australia are without their three leading fast bowlers in Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood.
The trio’s absence was felt as England racked up a 350-plus total in their tournament opener before the Aussies rode on Josh Inglis’s counterattacking hundred to emerge victorious by five wickets and 15 balls to spare. Two-time winners Australia are seeking to regain the Champions Trophy title after a gap of 15 years. They had won back-to-back titles in 2006 and 2009 but have failed to reach the finals in the 2013 and 2017 editions, after which the event was discontinued.
In the absence of their big fast bowlers, Australia know that their strength lies in batting with the likes of Travis Head, Steve Smith, Marnus Labuschagne and Glenn Maxwell capable of inflicting plenty of damage on the opposition bowling attack.
‘Plans in place for Oz’
The Afghanistan team has chalked out plans for the entire Australian side and is not just focussed on its bete noire Glenn Maxwell, skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi said on the eve of their match.
“You think we will come only to play with Maxwell? Do you think it will be like that? We have planned for entire Australian team, and I know that he (Maxwell) played really well in the 2023 World Cup, but that’s part of the history,” Shahidi said.
Chasing 292, Australia were staring at a certain defeat after losing seven wickets with less than 100 on the board, but then, Maxwell played one of the greatest knocks in history of one-day cricket to steer his side into an unbelievable win, and days later, the Aussies won a record-extending sixth World Cup. However, the Afghans exacted revenge for that painful defeat with victory against Australia in the T20 World Cup a year later. “After that, we beat them in T20 World Cup, and we think about all opposition team. We are not coming to the ground to plan on individual players. We will try our best to come with the planning, and we are not playing only Maxwell – we are playing Australia,” Shahidi said.
