Afghanistan skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi said that the team is planning for the entire Australian team and not just Glenn Maxwell. The comments were in context of Maxwell's 2023 ODI World Cup innings when he hit 200 while cramped badly and took the team home from 91/7. The loss had ended Afghanistan's campaign in the ICC tournament.

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"You think we will come only to play with Maxwell?," said Shahidi when asked about the 2023 WC meeting vs Australia after beating England in the Champions Trophy on Feb 26.

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The win kept Afghanistan alive in the ICC tournament but sent England packing home, their third disappointing ICC tournament on the trot.

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"We have planning for all Australian team. I know that he (Maxwell) played really well in 2023 World Cup, but that's part of history."

"After that, we beat them in [the] T20 World Cup. We think about all [the] opposition team, we are not coming to the ground to plan on [an] individual player. We will try our best to come with the planning and we are not playing only Maxwell - we are playing Australia."

"We will try to play positive game - just like we defeated England today, we hope to beat Australia as well," Shahidi said. "We won't put that pressure on ourselves by thinking too much about the semi-final qualification," he added.

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Afghanistan next play against Australia, which is a do-or-die game for both teams. Australia are currently at three points from two games while Afghanistan have two. Whichever team wins the match will become the first one to enter semis from Group B.

In case Afghanistan wins, Australia will have to hope for South Africa's loss against England in their last group stage match, and that too by a huge margin. 

In case Australia wins, then South Africa will also qualify for the semis with their three points, while Afghanistan will join England in going home.