Win and advance to the semifinals: the math for Afghanistan and Australia is as simple as that going into their concluding match in Group B of the Champions Trophy in Lahore on Friday. But the ODI world champions are familiar with the flair, skills, resilience of the Afghans; and that caution reflects in the words of Marnus Labuschagne ahead of the crucial encounter.
“We know how good they are, we know the skill level that they play with. But we’re going to make sure we come really well prepared and put a really good performance together,” the Australian batter told reporters a day before the match.
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Not too long ago, at the 2023 ODI World Cup, Afghanistan had pushed Australia to the ropes until Glenn Maxwell roared with an unbeaten 201 to get his side out of the woods and register a famous come-from-behind victory after being reduced to 91 for 7 while chasing 291.
Besides having effective pacers in the form of Fazalhaq Farooqi and Azmatullah Omarzai, Afghanistan have historically relied on their spin attack led by captain Rashid Khan.
Labuschagne said they are up for that challenge.
“If we’re batting, we’ll be looking to combat their spin through the middle, which has been their really strong point,” Labuschagne told reporters a day before the match.
“Going into their batting, we saw that they’ve got batters last time we played Afghanistan as well, their top order, they got 300 (291) and Maxwell played that amazing innings and got us over the line,” he recalled.
Australia are currently level on three points with South Africa, but behind the Proteas on net run-rate at number two. Afghanistan clinched two points from their famous win over England to stay in the race to semifinals.
The winners on Friday will confirm themselves a spot in the last-four.
In case of a washout, Australia will go through to the semis, while Afghanistan will join South Africa at three points and anxiously wait for the result of the match between England and South Africa on Saturday.
Australia’s last group game against South Africa in Rawalpindi was washed out by inclement weather. That may leave the team short on practice. But Labuschagne said it hasn’t affected their preparations.
“Most of our preparation came before the tournament,” said the 30-year-old batter. “We’ve had a training rain-out and then the game rain-out against South Africa, and our training now is indoors. The boys have played a lot, we’re ready to go. When you come to these tournaments, you have to be prepared to play.”