Maxwell's knock is history, our focus is on beating Australia: Hashmatullah Shahidi

Hashmatullah Shahidi, Afghanistan captain rigidly avoided the case against arguments about Glenn Maxwell’s historic double century ahead of their highly anticipated clash against Australia in the Champions Trophy 2025.   

Afghanistan and Australia are about to clash in a virtual quarter-final on February 28 at Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore. Two years ago, the same situation arose with the teams where Glenn Maxwell’s impeccable and classic knock had single-handedly defeated Afghanistan in a semi-final spot, rescuing Australia from 91/7 in a chase of 292. Nevertheless, Shahidi said that his team is now ready for their next challenge.

“You think we have come here only to play against Maxwell? Do you think it will be like that?” Shahidi shot back at a reporter during the pre-match press conference. “We have prepared for the entire Australian team. I know he played really well in the 2023 World Cup, but that’s history now.”  

Afghanistan have already proved and knocked out Australia, most notably in the 2024 T20 World Cup, where they stunned the five-time champions. Shahidi says that his team’s focus is on unified planning rather than marking on just individual players.  

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“After that (Maxwell’s knock), we beat them in the T20 World Cup. We don’t plan for individual players; we plan for the entire opposition. We are not playing against Maxwell alone—we are playing against Australia,” he mentioned.  

Afghanistan heads into this important match with strong momentum after a thrilling eight-run triumph over England, having come back after a devastating loss against South Africa. Same time, Australia defeated England by five wickets, but their match against South Africa was washed out due to heavy rains.

Shahidi and his men have a great opportunity to take up the semi-final spot in their debut Champions Trophy campaign as Australia will be missing their entire first-choice pace attack,

“I think it will be a good game for cricket. Our focus is to keep things simple and not overthink the semi-final. We will stick to our basics and give our best,” Shahidi assured.