Afghanistan vs. Australia ICC Champions Trophy 2025: The groundskeeper at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore had a rough time during Friday’s Afghanistan vs. Australia group stage match. When Afghanistan was batting in the first inning, the rain did not interfere with their game. However, it started to rain around 7 p.m. local time, which forced the match to be called off.

In order for the players to play the game again, the ground crew had to clean the water and put in a lot of effort to make the field ready in time. However, their efforts were in futile when the on-field umpires decided to call off the game at around 8:50 p.m. local time. 10:11 p.m. was the cutoff time for a 20-over match.

Amidst all of this, a video of a groundskeeper falling on his back while attempting to clear the ground became popular on social media. He slipped and fell after attempting to remove the water with the wiper.

Australia advances to the semifinals of the Champions Trophy.

After 16 years, the Steve Smith-led team made it to the semifinals of the ongoing mega-event for the first time when the match was called off owing to the constant rain. Afghanistan set a reasonable aim of 273 runs when they batted first. With a tough effort of 85 runs, including three sixes and six fours, Sediqullah Atal was the outstanding batsman.

Azmatullah Omarzai, who took a five-for against the Jos Buttler-led team, scored 67 runs off 63 balls after being dismissed. Spencer Johnson and Adam Zampa each got two wickets, while Ben Dwarshius was the best of the Australian bowlers with stats of 9-0-47-3.

With a blistering 59 runs off 40 balls, Travis Head gave the squad a head start. Rain ended the match when they were 109/1 after 12.5 overs.

To help Afghanistan advance to the semifinals or chase down the goal in 11.1 overs, England will need to defeat South Africa by a massive 207-run difference.