Australia were forced to collect a point for the second consecutive time in the ICC Champions Trophy after their final group match, against Afghanistan in Lahore on Friday, was called off 12.5 overs into their chase of the 274-run target.
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The ongoing ICC Champions Trophy witnessed another match ending in a No Result on Friday with
Afghanistan and Australia collecting a point each after rain played spoilsport in their Group B clash in Lahore. It wasn’t a complete washout like Australia’s previous game against South Africa or the Group A meeting between hosts Pakistan and Bangladesh – both getting abandoned without a ball bowled in Rawalpindi.
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The Afghans, who had
knocked England out with a thrilling eight-run victory at Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium on Wednesday, posted a fighting 273 on the board after opting to bat, thanks to half-centuries from Sediqullah Atal (85) and Azmatullah Omarzai (67).
Two-time champions Australia, in reply, were off to a blazing start, racing to 109/1 after 12.5 overs with Travis Head unbeaten on 59 off 40 balls when the heavens opened above Lahore, bringing the game to a screeching halt.
Though the rain did subside some time later, the umpires were unable to restart the game due to large wet patches in the outfield, as a result of which the game was called off.
Here’s how the latest result affects the semi-final scenarios as far as Group B is concerned:
Are Australia through to the semi-finals?
Australia needed to avoid a defeat in their final group match against Afghanistan in order to advance to the semi-finals, and the washout confirmed their place in the knockouts along with India and New Zealand from Group A.
Whether the Aussies finish at the top of Group B or not will depend on the South Africa-England match that takes place in Karachi on Saturday.
How Afghanistan can still qualify
The South Africa-England match will also decide whether the spirited Afghan team reach the semi-finals of an ICC event for the second time in as many years or not. The
Afghans finished with three points to their name with one win, one defeat and a No Result.
The Proteas, however, enjoy a considerable advantage over Hashmatullah Shahidi’s men in terms of Net Run Rate (NRR) – theirs (+2.140) being the best among all teams currently.
Afghanistan (-0.990) finished with an NRR in the negative and will need England to defeat South Africa by a huge margin for them to finish ahead of Temba Bavuma’s men on the table to qualify.