Australia will be up against Afghanistan in a match that will be a do-or-die encounter in the 2025 Champions Trophy. The match will be both a team's last match in the group stage as also that of a team in the championship. In these situations, both these two teams will be heading into the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore intending to win. Australian batter Marnus Labuschagne is fearful of Afghan spinners. The Afghan spinners will be a big challenge in the middle overs that will be faced by this batter from the middle order in order for them to win in their last match in Group B on Friday in the ICC Champions Trophy.

Australia's last match against group-toppers South Africa in Rawalpindi on Tuesday was washed out due to rain, leaving them in a must-win match against Afghanistan to make the last four. Australia beat England by five wickets in their first match of the tournament, while Afghanistan defeated the 2019 ODI World Cup winners by eight runs in a thrilling encounter on Wednesday. After a stellar performance against England, Afghanistan will look to make it to the semi-finals with a win over Australia. "We will try to counter their spin in the middle overs, which has been their strongest side," Labuschagne said.

"Their fast bowling has been very good in the last few games. Noor Ahmad started really well. He finished the match really well last night and then Zakir in their batting - we saw they have batsmen. I think the last time we played Afghanistan - their top order got three batsmen and Maxwell played an amazing innings and got us the win. We are going to attack different parts of the game," Labuschagne said.

In their previous encounter at the 2024 T20 World Cup, Afghanistan defeated Australia by 21 runs and reached the semi-finals of an ICC tournament for the first time. However, in their last ODI match during the 2023 ODI World Cup in Mumbai, Afghanistan came close to defeating the world champions but Glenn Maxwell's brilliant double-century gave the Aussies the win.