Afghanistan captain Hashmatullah Shahidi won the toss and elected to bat first against Australia in a must-win game of the ICC Champions Trophy 2025. If the Afghans register a victory, they will qualify for the semi-finals. On the other hand, Australia’s win will take them and South Africa to the knockout stage.

“We want to bat first as the wicket looks good, and it was used during the Australia-England. It will get slow in the second innings, and hopefully, our spinners will bowl well over here,” he said.

Steve Smith, the Australian captain, would have bowled first even after winning the toss.

“We would have bowled first because of the weather. We are not unhappy with bowling first over here. The guys are feeling good and looking forward to coming out against Afghanistan. They played well against England. We will come out with good intent and aggression,” he said.

Afghanistan 1 Ibrahim Zadran, 2 Rahmanullah Gurbaz (WK), 3 Sediqullah Atal, 4 Rahmat Shah, 5 Hashmatullah Shahidi (Capt), 6 Azmatullah Omarzai, 7 Mohammad Prophet, 8 Gulbadin Naib, 9 Rashid Khan, 10 Noor Ahmad, 11 Fazalhaq Farooqi