The third semi-finalist of the Champions Trophy 2025 has been decided. Two-time champion Australia has made it to the semi-finals of the tournament. The match played between Australia and Afghanistan in Lahore could not be completed due to rain and was canceled. Due to this, Australia has qualified for the semi-finals, while Afghanistan is on the verge of being eliminated from the tournament. Now the fourth semi-finalist will be decided by the result of the match between South Africa and England on Saturday, March 1, in which only South Africa's defeat by a big margin can open Afghanistan's fate.
After India and New Zealand reached the semi-finals, all eyes are on Group B, from where the remaining two spots are to be filled. The first team was to be decided on Friday, February 28, after a clash between Australia and Afghanistan. Afghanistan needed a win at any cost to reach the final, while Australia also needed a win but that could have been accomplished by sharing the points as it already had 3 points. In the end, the decision was made on this basis, where due to the match being cancelled, both the teams got one point each and they reached the semi-finals with 4 points.
With this result, Afghanistan also has 3 points, which is equal to South Africa but South Africa still has to play its last match. This match will be against England on Saturday, March 1. If South Africa wins this match, it will be in the next round. Even if it loses by a small margin, it will still be in the next round because South Africa's net run rate is currently much higher than Afghanistan. In such a situation, only a big defeat of South Africa can raise Afghanistan's hopes.
Talking about this match, Afghanistan once again displayed aggressive batting at Lahore's Gaddafi Stadium. Afghanistan, which scored 325 runs against England, could not score as big this time but gave Australia a target of 274 runs. For them, 23-year-old batsman Sediqullah Atal played a brilliant innings of 85 runs but he missed his second century. After this, Azmatullah Omarzai played explosive batting for the second consecutive match and took the team to a match-worthy score. Omarzai played an innings of 67 runs in 63 balls. Ben Dwarshuis took the maximum of 3 wickets for Australia.
In response, Australia scored a quick 42 runs in just 4 overs. During this, Afghanistan made two big mistakes. First, Rashid Khan dropped an easy catch of Travis Head (59 not out) when he was on just 6 runs. Then Kharoti dropped the catch of Matthew Short (20). Although, Short was out in the next 2 balls, Head punished Afghanistan severely for the mistake. This explosive opener completed his half-century in just 34 balls. Australia had scored 109 runs in 12.5 overs when rain intervened and the match could not be restarted.
