South Africa vs Afghanistan: Temba Bavuma Chooses To Bat In ICC Champions Trophy Group B 2025 Opener
South Africa skipper Temba Bavuma won the toss and opted to bat first in their opening game of the ICC Men's Champions Trophy 2025 campaign against Afghanistan in Karachi on Friday. South Africa and Afghanistan are placed in Group B along with England and Australia in their group.
South Africa skipper Temba Bavuma noted after winning the Toss said,
"Wickets looks different from how it generally does in Pakistan. Not really sure how it'll react. We have to assess the wicket, hope to get a good score on the board. We have a lot of confidence in our bowling, consistency has been our strength. Just one spinner."
Wicket-keeper batter Heinrich Klaasen has been ruled out of this match as a precautionary measure due to a left elbow soft tissue injury.
Afghanistan skipper would have done the same. Hashmatullah Shahidi said,
"If we'd have won the toss, we'd have batted too. We played some quality cricket against SA in Sharjah. We have quality spinners. I will be happy if we start well, and we get early wickets and restrict them going on."
Teams
Afghanistan (Playing XI): Rahmanullah Gurbaz(w), Ibrahim Zadran, Sediqullah Atal, Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi(c), Azmatullah Omarzai, Gulbadin Naib, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Noor Ahmad
South Africa (Playing XI): Ryan Rickelton(w), Tony de Zorzi, Temba Bavuma(c), Rassie van der Dussen, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Wiaan Mulder, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi.
ANI