As it happened - Australia vs Afghanistan in Adelaide

Marcus Stoinis kept faith in his back-of-the-hand slower ball through that final over, and he struggled for control, but he got it right just often enough to get Australia the two points.

But what an innings from Rashid Khan. He finishes with 48 not out from 23 balls. He showed how good he's become with the bat earlier this year when he made a number of match-winning contributions in the IPL as Gujarat Titans' regular No. 7. And tonight he nearly won this game for Afghanistan from a position where they were going nowhere. That mini-collapse against Adam Zampa really hurt them in a match they could have won.

As for Australia, they've got the two points, but they've done their net run rate no favours. They now need Sri Lanka to beat England tomorrow. If the result goes any other way, they're out of their home World Cup. It's the nature of this tournament, as South Africa discovered last year, and that heavy defeat to New Zealand made a really, really big dent to Australia's chances.

That's that for tonight's live report. Keep an eye out for the full report, which will go up very soon, and all our post-match content. Cheers!

A mixed over for Josh Hazlewood. Rashid whips a short ball for a leg-side six, and drills a full one over mid-off for four, to keep Afghanistan in the game, just about.

Marcus Stoinis will bowl the final over with Afghanistan needing 22.

Rashid Khan clatters Kane Richardson for back-to-back sixes, and Afghanistan need 33 from 12. Well, well...

And S Rajesh informs us that when Afghanistan went past 122, any margin of victory tomorrow will keep England ahead of Australia on NRR.

Australia needed to restrict Afghanistan to 106 or below to get their net run rate above England's. That's not happening now. If they are to qualify for the semis, Australia - assuming they win today - will need Sri Lanka to beat England tomorrow.

Adam Zampa and Glenn Maxwell combine for three wickets in four balls to ease the pressure on Australia, applied by Gulbadin Naib in particular. Maxwell ran Gulbadin out on the first ball of Zampa's final over, firing the ball onto the stumps at the bowler's end after Gulbadin had nudged Zampa to midwicket. Gulbadin reached 39 off 23 balls.

Zampa then had Ibrahim Zadran caught by Mitchell Marsh at short fine leg and, two balls later, Najibullah Zadran chipped to Maxwell at long-off. Zampa ends with 2 for 22 from four.

Josh Hazlewood then chimes in with the wicket of Mohammad Nabi, holing out to David Warner at deep square leg for just 1.

Gulbadin Naib makes a charge with back-to-back boundaries off Kane Richardson to reach 38 not out off 22 deliveries. Ibrahim Zadran chimes in with a four off the last ball too.

Mitchell Starc's omission from this game raised plenty of eyebrows. Our very own Danyal Rasool examined what might have been for Australia and their yorker specialist in the lead-up to this match.

Kane Richardson enters the attack and removes a threatening Rahmanullah Gurbaz, slicing to David Warner at mid-off. It's Richardson's third ball of the tournament after he came into the Australian side for an omitted Mitchell Starc. His ball, on a length, cramped Gurbaz, who sent it straight down Warner's throat, out for 30 off 17 balls. At the end of the Powerplay, Afghanistan are 47 for 2, chasing 169 for victory.

It's been an eventful start for Afghanistan, and Rahmanullah Gurbaz in particular. A four and a vast six well caught by a fan in the second tier some 95 metres over deep square leg off the first over from Josh Hazlewood; surviving a sharp run-out chance as bowler Pat Cummins side-footed the ball onto the stumps; then calling for the physio to look at his shoulder, apparently hurt as Gurbaz accidentally collided with Cummins during that run-out attempt. He's ok to continue.

Cummins returns to the action with a good catch running in from mid-on to remove Usman Ghani off Hazlewood.

Afghanistan will chase 169 for victory after Australia reached 168 for 8 on the back of Glenn Maxwell's unbeaten 54 from 32 balls. But, crucially, will that be enough for the hosts and defending champions to have a chance of reaching the semi-finals? New Zealand have already qualified and Australia need to win big if they are to challenge England for the other knockout berth.

And Naveen has a hand in another! Maxwell drills the ball back to the bowler, who turns and runs out Kane Richardson, who was going for the single to keep the in-touch Maxwell on strike and couldn't get back. Naveen ends a fine spell with 3 for 21.

Fazalhaq Farooqi removes Matthew Wade with a brilliant yorker. Wade has his middle stump pinged with a superb ball from Farooqi to fall for just 6 off eight deliveries and, with two overs remaining, Australia are 155 for 6. Then, two balls into the penultimate over, Pat Cummins holes out to Rashid Khan at deep point off Naveen-ul-Haq without scoring. Australia 156 for 7 and being well contained by Afghanistan when they needed a really big total.

Rashid Khan whips his adoring Adelaide Oval fans into a frenzy with the wicket of Marcus Stoinis, caught by Usman Ghani at backward point for 25 off 21.

Call it a jinx, call it what you will, but that's another crucial wicket for Afghanistan. No sooner had we sung the praises of Mitchell Marsh and he falls for 45 off 30, skying Mujeeb Ur Rahman straight up, with wicketkeeper Rahmanullah Gurbaz holding the catch. Australia are in difficulty at 86 for 4.

Mitchell Marsh, dropped on 22 by Najibulla Zadran at point off the bowling of Gulbadin Naib, takes to Gulbadin in his next over with three consecutive boundaries, starting with a juicy 84-metre six straight down the ground.

Naveen-ul-Haq strikes again! Having dismissed a dangerous-looking David Warner with his eighth delivery, he then traps Steven Smith lbw four balls later with one that angles in from wide on the crease and crashes into the pad just above the knee roll. Smith, playing his first match of the tournament, tried to overturn his dismissal, to no avail and Australia are 54 for 3 at the end of the Powerplay.

That's a huge wicket for Afghanistan. David Warner was flying with 25 off 18 balls, including five fours and scampering for every run on offer. But Naveen-ul-Haq out-foxed Warner, who tried to switch-hit his off-cutter, which clattered into off-stump. No sooner had Australian brought up their fifty in 5.1 overs and they're 50 for 2, with both openers gone.

Afghanistan break through! Fazalhaq Farooqi, with his seventh delivery of the match, has Cameron Green out slashing to Gulbadin Naib at slip. Green, who came into the side along with Steve Smith after Aaron Finch and Tim David were both ruled out with hamstring injuries, managed just 3 before getting a top edge to Farooqi's length ball which rose sharply and drew an attempted cut shot.

David Warner knows Australia need a massive score here. He turned 36 just over a week ago but he's sprinting between the wickets like a man possessed and, to give those legs a bit of a rest, he's picked off four fours already, including three off Mujeeb Ur Rahman's first over, the second of the match.

Afghanistan win the toss and choose to bowl first.

Big changes for Australia. Aaron Finch has been ruled out after failing to recover from a hamstring injury in time. Matthew Wade will captain Australia in his place. He says he would have opted to field as well, had he won the toss. Tim David is out too, also with a hamstring injury, and Mitchell Starc is left out. Coming in for the hosts are Cameron Green, Steve Smith and Kane Richardson, who replaces Starc.

Rashid Khan is fine after concerns over his knee and back and will play at what captain Mohammad Nabi called his "home ground".

Australia: 1 David Warner, 2 Cameron Green, 3 Mitch Marsh, 4 Steve Smith, 5 Glenn Maxwell, 6 Marcus Stoinis, 7 Matthew Wade (capt/wk), 8 Pat Cummins, 9 Kane Richardson, 10 Adam Zampa, 11 Josh Hazlewood

Afghanistan: 1 Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), 2 Usman Ghani, 3 Ibrahim Zadran, 4 Gulbadin Naib, 5 Darwish Rasooli, 6 Najibullah Zadran, 7 Mohammad Nabi (capt), 8 Rashid Khan, 9 Mujeeb Ur Rahman, 10 Naveen-ul-Haq, 11 Fazal Farooqi

All eyes on Australia's team at the toss with Aaron Finch and Tim David having faced fitness tests on their respective hamstring injuries. Commentator Simon Doull told Sky Sports during the NZ vs Ireland game that he'd seen Steve Smith "working very hard" in the nets. Matthew Wade would skipper Australia in Finch's absence.

Let's drill down a little more into the scenarios the Australians face. This from S. Rajesh, our Stats Editor:

Extremely tricky for Australia today, as they need to win big against Afghanistan in conditions which are likely to help spin.

Australia’s best-case scenario is if they win tonight and if Sri Lanka beat England in Sydney tomorrow. Then Australia will qualify as the second team from Group 1 without net run rates coming into play. However, if England win tomorrow, then Australia will need a big victory tonight to move ahead of England on NRR; currently they are a fair way behind: -0.304 to England’s 0.547.

So how will the win margins in these two games impact the overall NRRs for these two teams? Here are a couple of scenarios to illustrate how the run rates will change depending on the win margins:

If Australia score 180 and beat Afghanistan by 60 runs tonight, then England will need to beat Sri Lanka by at least 10 runs on Saturday to stay ahead on NRR. That means the difference in margins need be roughly more than 50 runs for Australia to move ahead.

If Australia chase a target of 121 in 12 overs, they will have to hope that England take at least 18 overs to chase down 151. If they do it any sooner, England will move ahead on NRR.