Australian batter Marnus Labuschagne believes that handling Afghanistan’s spinners during the middle overs will be key to their success in their final Group B match of the ICC Champions Trophy on Friday. Australia’s previous game against group leaders South Africa was washed out in Rawalpindi on Tuesday, putting them in a must-win situation against Afghanistan to advance to the semi-finals.
Australia secured a five-wicket victory over England in their tournament opener, while Afghanistan also defeated the 2019 ODI World Cup winners by eight runs in a thrilling encounter on Wednesday.
“Well, I mean, I think we’ll be targeting sort of both assets with the bat and with the ball. I think if we’re batting, we’ll be looking to combat their spin through the middle, which has been their really strong point,” Labuschagne told reporters in the press conference.
Maxwell knock was amazing: Labuschagne on last AFG vs AUS ODI match
Speaking on their last ODI encounter, Labuschagne remembered how Afghanistan’s top order scored heavily before Maxwell played that heroic knock in the AFG vs AUS World Cup match in 2023.
“Their pace bowling has been very good in the last few games. Noor Ahmed started really well; they finished off the game really well last night. And then going into their batting, we saw that they’ve got batters. I think last time—last time we played Afghanistan as well—their top order, they got three hundred, and Maxwell played that amazing innings and got us over the line. Different parts of the game we’re going to attack—both, so it’s just going to have to be—play what’s in front of us tomorrow,” he added.
They are not underdogs: Marnus Labuschagne
On preparations ahead of the match, Labuschagne said, “I think most of our preparation sort of came before the tournament. Obviously, we’ve had a training rain out and then the game rain out against South Africa and our training now is indoors. So, the boys have played a lot. We’re ready to go. I think, obviously when you come to these tournaments, you have to be prepared to play. We’ve had obviously a game off and our preparation has been altered, but we’ll be ready to go tomorrow.
When asked about whether are Afghans still underdogs, Labuschagne replied, “Look, I’m not a pundit or someone that deems if they’re underdog or not. We’re playing Afghanistan and we know how good they are and we know the skill level that they play with, but we’re going to make sure we come really well prepared and put a really good performance together.“
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