"He is the captain, but does he deserve his place?" - Aakash Chopra on Hashmatullah Shahidi's 'slow' knock in AUS vs AFG 2025 Champions Trophy clash

Former India player Aakash Chopra has opined that most Afghanistan batters didn't live up to expectations in their 2025 Champions Trophy clash against Australia. He was particularly disappointed with Hashmatullah Shahidi's knock, questioning whether the Afghanistan captain merits a place in the side.

Shahidi scored 20 runs off 49 deliveries as Afghanistan set Australia a 274-run target in their 2025 Champions Trophy Group B clash in Lahore on Friday, February 28. However, the match didn't yield a result as rain halted play after Australia had reached 109/1 in 12.5 overs, with the Aussies resultantly sealing their semi-final berth and Afghanistan virtually getting knocked out of the tournament.

In a video shared on his YouTube channel 'Aakash Chopra', the former India opener praised Sediqullah Atal for scoring a 95-ball 85 but reckoned that Hashmatullah Shahidi and Rahmat Shah (12 off 21) let their team down.

"Atal scored runs for sure, I thought he would score a hundred, but I feel Shahidi plays too slow. He is the captain, but does he deserve his place? He played 49 balls and scored 20 runs. He is the captain but is not doing the job of a captain. I had a lot of expectations from Rahmat Shah, but he too has disappointed," he said (3:00).

While observing that Rahmanullah Gurbaz, who was dismissed for a duck in Friday's game, had a disappointing tournament, Chopra noted that the pitches in Pakistan didn't help Afghanistan's cause in the 2025 Champions Trophy.

"Gurbaz didn't do anything in this tournament. The pitches weren't useful for them. Beating England was a miracle because the pitch wasn't turning. If Rashid and Noor are not getting wickets, Afghanistan have limited chances of progressing on those pitches. We are all sad but we are not surprised," he elaborated.

Reflecting on Australia's chase, the cricketer-turned-commentator pointed out that Travis Head's destructive knock had virtually ensured Australia would register an easy win before the game ended prematurely.

"Travis Head was dropped once, but he destroys for sure if the opposition are wearing blue clothes. He kept hitting fours and sixes, and the way he started with Matthew Short, it seemed like they would cut the chase really short, that they would hit so much that you wouldn't be able to come back in the game," Chopra observed.

Head scored an unbeaten 59 off 40 deliveries with the help of nine fours and a six. His opening partner Matthew Short scored 20 runs off 15 deliveries, with Steve Smith remaining unbeaten on a 22-ball 19.

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"What sort of team they are" - Aakash Chopra on Australia qualifying for 2025 Champions Trophy semi-finals

Australia finished the 2025 Champions Trophy group stage with four points. [P/C: Getty]

In the same video, Aakash Chopra praised Australia for qualifying for the 2025 Champions Trophy semi-finals.

"What sort of team they are. They have qualified once again. Australia's story is that they qualify somehow or other. They chased 350 in the first match, created a record. An interesting thing was that they had won their first Champions Trophy match after 2009. This tournament wasn't suiting them," he said.

The analyst pointed out that Steve Smith and company reached the knockouts despite having a severely depleted bowling attack.

"When this tournament started, they had injuries one after the other. (Josh) Hazlewood, (Pat) Cummins and (Mitchell) Starc were out, (Marcus) Stoinis retired, and Mitchell Marsh was out. It seemed like they wouldn't qualify now, that they wouldn't qualify with such inexperienced bowling, but they have reached the semi-finals again," Chopra observed.

Aakash Chopra noted that he had picked India, New Zealand, South Africa and Afghanistan as the semi-finalists ahead of the 2025 Champions Trophy. He acknowledged that he should have picked Australia, highlighting that they can never be ruled out as they somehow find a way to qualify.