Spencer Johnson cleans up Rahmanullah Gurbaz for a duck with a stunning yorker in AUS vs AFG 2025 Champions Trophy clash [Watch]
Australia pacer Spencer Johnson provided a stunning start to his team by taking a first-over wicket in their Champions Trophy 2025 clash against Afghanistan in Lahore on Friday, February 28. The left-arm pacer cleaned up Rahmanullah Gurbaz for a five-ball duck with a brilliant yorker.
There was a shade of Mitchell Starc as the ball shaped in late and sneaked through bat and pad before crashing into the base of the off-stump. As a result, Afghanistan lost their first wicket without adding anything to their scorecard. On the other hand, Johnson looked delighted after picking up the wicket before celebrating with his teammates.
Watch the video below:
Rahmanullah Gurbaz has been dismal with the bat in the Champions Trophy. The wicketkeeper-batter returned with scores of 10 and six against South Africa and England, respectively, in his previous two games. The hat-trick of failures came after he scored 110 against New Zealand in a warmup game.
Afghanistan opt to bat in must-win Champions Trophy 2025 game against Australia
Afghanistan captain Hashmatullah Shahidi won the toss and chose to bat against Australia in a must-win Champions Trophy 2025 game. Notably, the Asian team are still alive in the race to semifinals following an eight-run win over England in their previous contest. Ibrahim Zadran scored 177 while Azmatullah Omarzai bagged a fifer in the last-over thriller.
They, however, lost their opening game to South Africa by 107 runs.
Shahidi said at the toss (via Cricbuzz):
"We were happy with the performance in our last game, we also have made plans against Australia and hopefully, we can rectify the mistakes we made against England. We are going with the same team."
On the other hand, Steve Smith-led Australia chased down the highest Champions Trophy total to beat England by five wickets in their opening game of the campaign. Their last outing against South Africa was abandoned due to rain, and the two teams had to settle for one point each. The Aussies are playing without regular captain Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood (both injured) and Mitchell Starc (unavailable).
At the time of writing, Afghanistan were 24/1 after six overs.
Follow the AUS vs AFG live score and updates here.