Australia vs Afghanistan, World Cup highlights: Maxwell's record-breaking 201* seals semis berth for Cummins and Co.

Australia vs Afghanistan Live Score, Cricket World Cup 2023: Ibrahim Zadran, who is batting in his 70s, keeps thing moving with Hashmatullah Shahidi as the pair add 21(32) balls. AFG: 142/2 (30 overs)

Australia vs Afghanistan Live Score, Cricket World Cup 2023: Ibrahim Zadran has powered Afghanistan to 128/2 in 27 overs after the Asian giant killers opted to bat first against the five-time champions at the Wankhede Stadium, Zadran is batting on 69 off 86 balls. Can he get to his hundred at Mumbai?

Australia vs Afghanistan Live Score, Cricket World Cup 2023: Hazlewood takes the catch and Rahmat departs for 30 off 44 balls. Another crucial wicket for Australia. Maxwell gets his first of the contest. AFG 122-2 after 25 overs.

Australia vs Afghanistan Live Score, Cricket World Cup 2023: Zadran goes after a wide, short delivery by Starc and gets an outside edge, which flies past a diving Josh Inglis and runs away for a boundary. With that he brings up his 50, which comes in 62 deliveries. Zadran: 52*(62). AFG: 93/1 (18 overs)

Australia vs Afghanistan Live Score, Cricket World Cup 2023: Mitchell Starc is reintroduced in the attack and he starts with a three-run over. AFG: 76/1 in 16 overs.

Australia vs Afghanistan Live Score, Cricket World Cup 2023: Pat Cummins bangs it short and the ball is guided over the wicketkeeper for a boundary by Ibrahim Zadran. The batter bends a bit and upper cuts the ball over the keeper's head. AFG: 68/1 (14 overs)

Australia vs Afghanistan Live Score, Cricket World Cup 2023: Boundaries dry up but the pair of Ibrahim Zadran and Rahmat Shah keep the scoreboard ticking as they add 23 in 30 balls. AFG: 61/1 (13 overs)

Pat Cummins bowls the final over of the first powerplay and is hit for a boundary by Zadran. AFG accumulate 46 for the loss of one wicket in the first powerplay.

Australia vs Afghanistan Live Score, Cricket World Cup 2023: Hazlewood bangs it short and it comes at the waist of Ibrahim Zadran, who pulls it away for a boundary.

Then there is a caught-behind appeal against the batter and Australia even take a review. TV replay confirms the ball had brushed his thigh and no bat was involved, so they lose an early review.

Gurbaz then pulls the final ball straight to Mitchell Starc at deep square leg. Gurbaz falls for 21(25). AFG 38-1 (8 overs)

Australia vs Afghanistan Live Score, Cricket World Cup 2023: Josh Hazlewood keeps it tight from his end as three runs come in his over.

Australia then introduce spin as Glenn Maxwell joins the attack. He starts with a three-run over. AFG: 33/0 (7 overs)

Australia vs Afghanistan Live Score, Cricket World Cup 2023: Starc bangs it short, but way down the leg and Gurbaz manages to get some bat on it. The ball flies between the wicketkeeper and the short fine leg fielder and then rolls away for a boundary. AFG: 27-0 (5 overs)

Australia vs Afghanistan Live Score, Cricket World Cup 2023: Gurbaz plays an elegant front foot drive against Hazlewood as the ball rolls away wide of mid-off for a boundary. AFG: 20/0 (4 overs)

Australia vs Afghanistan Live Score, Cricket World Cup 2023: Starc drops it at length, leg stump line and Gurbaz gently pushes it on the on-side. The timing and outfied does the rest as the ball races away towards mid-wicket fence. Travis Head chases after the ball and beats it from reaching the fence with a dive. The batter runs three.

Ibrahim Zadran finishes the over with a glorious cover drive, which away to the fence. AFG: 13/0 (3 overs)

Australia vs Afghanistan Live Score, Cricket World Cup 2023: Josh Hazlewood shares new ball duties with Starc and he starts with an economical over. Just one run from it as AFG move to 6/0 after 2 overs.

Australia vs Afghanistan Live Score, Cricket World Cup 2023: Mitchell Starc gets some swing as the ball moves away from Gurbaz, bounces in front of the wicketkeeper, who fails to collect it. But with a tight slip cordon, Gurbaz doesn't consider sneaking a quick single.

Starc follows it with a full delivery as Gurbaz walks down the track and comfortably flicks it towards deep mid-wicket and run three.

AFG: 5/0 (1 over)

Australia vs Afghanistan Live Score, Cricket World Cup 2023: Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran arrive in the middle to kick-off the proceedings.

Mitchell Starc leads the attack for Australia with Gurbaz on strike.

Australia vs Afghanistan Live Score, Cricket World Cup 2023: The officials arrive in the middle, following which the players march out. We are almost ready with the action but before that we'll have the pre-match rituals.

Australia: Travis Head, David Warner, Mitchell Marsh, Marnus Labuschagne, Josh Inglis(w), Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Pat Cummins(c), Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood

Afghanistan: Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Ibrahim Zadran, Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi(c), Azmatullah Omarzai, Mohammad Nabi, Ikram Alikhil(w), Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Noor Ahmad, Naveen-ul-Haq

Australia vs Afghanistan Live Score, Cricket World Cup 2023: Afghanistan win toss and opt to bat first against Australia.

Australia vs Afghanistan Live Score, Cricket World Cup 2023: As per an input on Cricbuzz, Steve Smith had a fitness test a while back and he didn't look in great shape.

Australia vs Afghanistan Live Score, Cricket World Cup 2023: Both Australia and Afghistan incidentally have charted similar routes in the tournament. The two started their campaign with consecutive defeats.

Australia then went to win five matches in a row, while Afghanistan defeated England, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Netherlands. The Afghan unit have won four matches in this edition, which is as many wins as in their previous World Cups.

Australia vs Afghanistan Live Score, Cricket World Cup 2023: As the two teams prepare to meet Afghanistan pacer Naveen ul Haq tried rubbing salt on old wounds and launched an attack on Cricket Australia.

Naveen recalled the time when Australia backed out from playing a three-match ODI series between the two sides, which was scheduled to be held in UAE in March.

Earlier this week he shared a story on Instagram and wrote: “Refusing to play the bilateral series, now it will be interesting to see cricket Australia stand in the World Cup #standards #humanrights or 2 points.” [Read More]

Australia vs Afghanistan Live Score, Cricket World Cup 2023: "In such a short time, we achieved a lot compared to other countries. And right now, we know the whole world is talking about our team's performance. As a team also, we are happy for that. But I think as a captain, it's not enough for me, looking forward for the other games. Tomorrow is one of the important games for us. And we will not relax until we sit back and plan and go back to country, until that we will fight as a team. We are here to fight and we will try our best." - Hashmatullah Shahidi, Afghanistan captain

Australia: W-W-W-W-W

Afghanistan: W-W-W-L-W

Australia vs Afghanistan Live Score, Cricket World Cup 2023: David Warner, who is in breathtaking form and has already slammed two tons in the tournament, stands one hundred away from equaling Rohit Sharma's record tally of seven World Cup tons.

Australia vs Afghanistan Live Score, Cricket World Cup 2023: Batting legend Sachin Tendulkar paid a visit to Afghanistan camp while they were training at the eve of their match. The Indian legend spent a considerable time with the Afghan players, speaking to them collectively in a huddle and also in groups thereafter while keeping an eye on their practice.

Tendulkar also joined head coach Jonathan Trott and mentor Ajay Jadeja during their pitch inspection.

Australia vs Afghanistan Live Score, Cricket World Cup 2023: While Australia do have a famed pace attack, but Adam Zampa has played an instrumental role in their successful campaign so far. The spinner has claimed 16 middle-overs wickets in the tournament, no other bowler has more than 12.

Australia vs Afghanistan Live Score, Cricket World Cup 2023: The conditions in Mumbai are expected to be hot and humid and if we go by recent encounters, batters are expected to dictate the show.

Only Indian bowlers Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami had shown some control on the track and the Aussie pace battery will look for some inspiration from their performance.

Australia vs Afghanistan Live Score, Cricket World Cup 2023: For Afghanistan their biggest hope will be their promising spin line-up. If either Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, or Mohammad Nabi click, things will get tricky for Australia.

Australia vs Afghanistan Live Score, Cricket World Cup 2023: Australia have been at their best batting first and imposing big totals on the board. The Kangaroos may plan something similar entering the contest.

Australia vs Afghanistan Live Score, Cricket World Cup 2023: The good news for Australia is that Glenn Maxwell was seen practicing in the nets, where he was seen batting and engaging in lengthy fielding drills.

All-rounder Mitchell Marsh also rejoined with the unit in Mumbai after he traveled back to Australia following the demise of his grandfather.

Australia vs Afghanistan Live Score, Cricket World Cup 2023: Steve Smith have been suffering from vertigo over the last two days, which makes him a doubtful in the all important World Cup clash.

Australia vs Afghanistan Live Score, Cricket World Cup 2023: If we look at the head-to-head tally between the two sides, Australia have met Afghanistan thrice in the 50-over format and have emerged victorious on all three occasions.

Australia: Travis Head, David Warner, Steven Smith, Marnus Labuschagne, Josh Inglis(w), Cameron Green, Marcus Stoinis, Pat Cummins(c), Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Sean Abbott, Alex Carey

Afghanistan: Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Ibrahim Zadran, Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi(c), Azmatullah Omarzai, Ikram Alikhil(w), Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Noor Ahmad, Najibullah Zadran, Naveen-ul-Haq, Abdul Rahman, Riaz Hassan

Australia vs Afghanistan Live Score, Cricket World Cup 2023: Hello and welcome to the Live coverage of the Australia vs Afghanistan encounter, which will be played at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. The match starts at 2:00 pm and the toss for the same will take place at 1:30 pm. Stay tuned for all the updates on the match!