Live Score

4:40 PM IST, 4:10 PM Local Time: The cut-off time for the start of a 20-overs-per-side game is 8:02 PM IST/7:32 PM Local Time. Remember, if the game is washed out, both Australia and South Africa will share a point each.

5:15 PM IST, 4:45 PM Local Time: It's a steady drizzle now. To make things worse, a lot of puddles have been formed on the covers and slowly, the water is flowing on the outfield. It will take a lot of time for the groundsmen to get the field ready for play, if and once the rain stops.

5:40 PM IST, 5:10 PM Local Time: The news coming from Rawalpindi is that the match has been abandoned. The match officials have had enough and have decided to call off this game as the rain refuses to relent. Both Australia and South Africa will share a point each.

TRIVIA: Just like rain plays spoilsport for South Africa in World Cups, it plays spoilsport for Australia in Champions Trophy. The Aussies have been involved in five washouts in Champions Trophy so far. One in 2009. Two in 2017, one in 2013 and one today.

Steve Smith (Australia Captain): "I did look on the weather app and saw some rain. Not ideal but we can't do anything about it.

Marnus was wandering around the room. A few of us were sitting and doing the crosswords.

We were watching the rain. We were thinking what would have been the good score if we had some play. The equation is simple now. Win our game against Afghanistan and lock ourselves in top four.

Afghanistan are dangerous on their day, just like any other team in this tournament. That's the beauty of this tournament. Top eight teams going against each other.

We have been able to chip in with a couple of golf sessions. The boys are up and the energy levels are high.

(On the win against England) It was good. We kept our cool on the field. At one stage, it looked like they would get 400 but we pulled back things. The partnership was crucial and it was a good team performance."

Temba Bavuma (South Africa Captain): "Yeah, it is frustrating. We would have loved to get a game here. Two sides who are coming here with confidence, you would want to see who would have been the winner today. 

I think I mean, don't have to say much for motivation. When you are playing against Australia, it gets the guys jumping. We were looking forward to it. From the confidence point of view, just wanted to build on that. Against Afghanistan, I feel we were clinical. Against a tough Australian side, a win would have done wonders to our confidence. 

We didn't really get to that point. We had a team in mind, rain or no rain. We have enough guys from the flexibility point of view. Everyone plays T20 these days. 

Heinrich Klaasen, he has recovered. That adds a lot of value to our team. The spirits are good. 

We will get to see them tomorrow when they go against Afghanistan, it will give us a fair idea of what the table looks like. As a group, we have to play our best. We have a couple of days to put our feet up and prepare for that clash against England."

That's it from this game! We were all eagerly anticipating a thrilling clash between these two heavyweights in their first-ever Champions Trophy meeting, but unfortunately, the rain had other plans and had the final say.

South Africa and rain in ICC events? Well, that’s a never-ending tale! But surprisingly, even Australia seems to carry a rain curse in the Champions Trophy.

Now, our attention shifts to tomorrow, where Afghanistan takes on England in Lahore. It’s a do-or-die battle, with the loser crashing out of the tournament. Expect a fierce contest as both teams fight to keep their campaign alive!

For now, this is Pritam Dey signing off on behalf of my co-commentators Akshay Bhide & Ajay Pal Singh who, along with scorer/analyst Raju Khariya brought all the actions of this clash. Stay tuned for more cricketing action from around the world. BYE BYE👋