Australia defeated England by five wickets in their opening encounter in a historic chase of 352 in Lahore to gain two points. However, the washout barred them from gaining two points from the fixture as both teams shared a point each in Rawalpindi on Tuesday.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
With South Africa claiming the top spot in Group B with three points at a NRR of +2.140, second-placed Australia (+0.475) have the task of toppling Afghanistan to keep them alive, unless England lose one of their two remaining games, in the eight-team spectacle.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\u201cI did look on the weather (app) a couple of days ago and saw a few days of rain, but I didn\u2019t expect it to be washed out. Not ideal, but can\u2019t do much about it,\" Smith said during the post-match presentation.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\u201cThe equation\u2019s pretty simple now. Onto the next one against Afghanistan. If we win, we\u2019re locked in the top four. They\u2019re a dangerous side on their day, like every team in this tournament. I think that\u2019s the beauty of this tournament. With the eight best teams coming up against it, anyone can have a good day,\" he added.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
In their last ODI match during the 2023 ODI World Cup at Wankhede Stadium, Afghanistan came close to handing Australia a shock defeat before Glenn Maxwell unleashed his beast mode and struck a memorable double-hundred to snatch victory for them.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
South Africa captain Temba Bavuma expressed his frustration with the result and said he would have loved to play their first-ever match against Australia in the Champions Trophy.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\u201cIt is frustrating. We would have loved to get in a game of cricket. You would have had two teams coming into the game high on confidence. You don\u2019t really have to say much from a motivation point of view. You mention Australia, that gets the guys chomping (at the bit),\" he said.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
South Africa captain Temba Bavuma expressed his frustration with the result and said he would have loved to play their first-ever match against Australia in the Champions Trophy.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
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