Live Score

9:04 PM IST and 8:34 PM Local Time: The groundsmen also use sponges to dry the soggy areas. Reserve umpire Richard Kettleborough is looking at the proceedings.

9:14 PM IST, 8:44 PM Local Time: Out come the on-field umpires Alex Wharf and Kumar Dharmasena for the inspection. They are having a chat with reserve umpire Richard Kettleborough. There are plenty of damp patches on the outfield and the groundsmen continue to work hard to dry those. The umpires don't look too pleased with the condition of the outfield.

9:19 PM IST, 8:49 PM Local Time: The umpires are heading back towards the dressing rooms. Dharmasena shakes hands with Smith and that should be it. Smith shakes hands with the Afghanistan players. Here comes the official word. The match has been abandoned. With that, Australia qualify for the semi-finals.

9:21 PM IST and 8:51 PM Local Time: Unfortunate scenes in Lahore as both captains shake hands, with the match between Australia and Afghanistan getting abandoned due to unfavourable playing conditions after a heavy downpour. Both teams share a point each. With that, Australia have become the third team to qualify for the semi-finals.

Despite no result in this clash, Afghanistan are still alive in the tournament, but they have to expect a miracle from England when they face South Africa tomorrow in the last Group B fixture. The Afghan Atalan have three points, while the Proteas, too, have three points but the latter have a great net run rate, for which to go lower than Afghanistan, the Jos Buttler-led side needs to demolish the Temba Bavuma-led outfit by a huge margin.

Earlier, in the game, Hashmatullah Shahidi had no hesitation in batting first on winning the toss. Both teams were unchanged from their previous matches. Rahmanullah Gurbaz failed to contribute again, bagging a duck before Ibrahim Zadran and Sediqullah Atal rebuilt with a 67-run partnership. Again, Afghanistan lost their wicket, losing a couple of quick wickets and again, there was another partnership helping out the Afghan Atalan.

Atal (85 off 95) was the aggressor in another 60-plus stand and was motoring along towards a sensational century, while the Afghanistan skipper struggled to get going before throwing his wicket away. All of a sudden, the Asian side lost wickets at regular intervals and were going down in the blink of an eye.

The ICC ODI cricketer of the year (2024), Azmatullah Omarzai, came to Afghanistan's rescue yet again and slammed a cracking fifty. Due to his valiant effort, they reached a competitive score before getting bundled out for 273 in exactly 50 overs.

Ben Dwarshuis was excellent again, picking up three wickets, while Spencer Johnson bounced back after an average outing against England to grab two wickets, alongside Adam Zampa. Nathan Ellis and Glenn Maxwell bagged a scalp each to sign off a complete bowling performance from the Aussies.

Matthew Short and Travis Head set the stage on fire, adding 44 runs in just 4.2 overs before the hobbling Short was taken care of by Omarzai while attempting to clear Gulbadin Naib at mid on. Both batters were dropped early in the piece, with Head making the most of it and scoring a swashbuckling 40-ball 59*.

Head and Smith (19* off 22) remained unbeaten with Australia cruising to 109/1 in 12.5 overs before the heavens broke down to put an abrupt end to a match that could have gone down to the wire!

Stay tuned for the post-match interviews!

TRIVIA: Australia have now been involved in six washouts in Champions Trophy so far. One in 2009. Two in 2017, one in 2013 and two in this edition.

Steve Smith (Australia Captain): "Yeah, it's a good result. We wanted to finish in the Top 2 and head towards the Semis. Satisfying so far.

I thought the guys did a very good job. Different changes at different phases of the game and guys adapted to it and did a brilliant job. We tried to take wickets in the middle overs and guys did a terrific job to restrict them to a total under 300. I thought we were in a very good position when the game got called off.

(Talking about the extras) Yeah it was a few. Spencer was making the ball swing a lot today. Josh Inglis was pretty happy after Spencer was done with his spell. I thought the guys did a good job. We could've picked up a few more wickets early on but it was a really good performance. 

(On Matthew Short) Yeah, I think he will be struggling. He saw today that he was struggling to move around and it will be too quick for him to recover. Obviously, we have got a few guys who can come in and do the job for us.

(On Travis Head) Yeah, he batted nicely today. He got a reprieve early on as he was dropped at mid-on. After that he made full use of the second chance. He is always really good to watch when he is hitting the ball sweetly.

Guys are doing a incredible job. Our first objective was to move into the Semis. Guys are pretty much excited and hopefully we can carry on with this momentum into the Semis."

Hashmatullah Shahidi (Afghanistan Captain): "It is unfortunate that the match ended without result. It was a good game, because of rain, nothing happened. 

I think we should have scored 300-plus but they bowled really well in the middle overs. 270 was also a good total on this pitch. We didn't bowl well in the beginning but yeah, hopefully, we learn from this. 

I think he (Sediqullah Atal) played really well. He was struggling in the first two games, didn't play the way we expect him to play. It was his first ICC tournament, we know he is a talented guy and hopefully, he can carry on in the same way. 

Yeah, he (Azmatullah Omarzai) is a top-class player. That is why he was named ODI player of the year. If you see, in this tournament, he is playing good role. Last game against England, he took a fifer and scored 40 odd. Today he scored a half-century and bowled well. Hopefully, he carries on like that. 

I think today, it was a bad day for me as captain. I will speak to the catch about where I went wrong. My strike-rate was a little low. I will work on it. About the tournament, we still have hopes. Hopefully, England win big (chuckles)."