Afghanistan’s Sediqullah Atal and Azmatullah Omarzai pushed their team to post a decent score on board in the Champions Trophy 2025 clash against Australia in Lahore.
Though Hashmatullah Shahidi and co made a terrible start Atal and Omarzai’s contribution made them post a decent score against the mighty Australia. Steven Smith and Co won their first game of the tournament against England by 5 wickets while their second game against South Africa was abandoned due to rain.
On the other hand, Afghanistan who made their maiden Champions Trophy appearance in the 2025 edition lost their first game by 107 runs against South Africa and won their second game by 8 runs against England. The defeat pushed England out of the tournament.
Speaking of the match, Afghanistan won the toss and opted to bat first with Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran opening the inning. Spencer Johnson who bowled the first over of the inning bagged a wicket in the very first over by dismissing Rahmanullah for five ball duck.
Following his dismissal, Afghanistan made a steady inning by adding 67 runs for the second wicket. Zampa broke the partnership by dismissing Ibrahim Zadran for 22 runs in third ball of the 14th over.
While the batters were expected to build another crucial partnership, Australian bowlers put pressure on the Afghan batting lineup by dismissing Rahmat Shah for 12 runs. Though Afghan lost wickets at one end, Sediqullah Atal on the other end made an impressive inning and nears his triple-digit mark.
But Spencer Johnson in the 32nd over dismissed Atal for 85 and scattered the dreams of scoring a century. Azmatullah Omarzai for his counterpart added 67 runs. Without much contribution from the lower order, Afghanistan managed to score 273 runs after losing 10 wickets in the allotted 50 overs.
It is worth mentioning that Azmatullah Omarzai has hit 41 sixes since the start of CWC 2023, the second most in the timeframe after Rohit Sharma’s 47.
𝘼𝙕𝙈𝘼𝙏 𝙂𝙊𝙀𝙎 𝙁𝙊𝙍 𝘼 𝙈𝘼𝙓𝙄𝙈𝙐𝙈 🥶
Death-over batting at its best by Azmatullah Omarzai (67 off 63) as he steers Afghanistan to a solid total in their must-win decider against Australia for a semi-final spot 🤯#ChampionsTrophyOnJioStar 👉 #AFGvAUS | LIVE NOW on… pic.twitter.com/lPJbiku0hF
— Star Sports (@StarSportsIndia) February 28, 2025
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