Rain Threat Looms Over Crucial Australia-South Africa Clash in Champions Trophy
The seventh match of the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 will be played between Australia and South Africa in Rawalpindi on 25 February. Both teams are in the top two places in the points table after winning their first match.
The team that wins this match will almost confirm its place in the knockouts. In the Champions Trophy, the top two teams from each group will directly get a place in the semi-finals through a knock-out format. Australia and South Africa are at the top of Group B with two points each. However, on the basis of net run rate, the South African team remains at the top spot in Group B.
The South African team scored a big win of 107 runs against Afghanistan. Therefore, their net run rate in the points table is 2.14, while Australia's net run rate is 0.475. The losing team in this match will have one more chance to qualify for the knockouts by winning.
In Group B, England and Afghanistan teams are third and fourth respectively. Both teams are yet to open their accounts. However, these teams have two matches left to play. Both teams will have to win both their matches by a good margin to qualify.
Talking about the head-to-head ODI record of Australia and South Africa, 110 matches have been played between the two so far, out of which South Africa has won 55 matches, while Australia has won 51 times. Three matches were tied and one match could not yield any result. Since last year i.e. 2023, the two teams have come face-to-face seven times, with South Africa winning four times and Australia three times.
The match will start at 2:30 pm Indian time and the toss will take place at 2:00 pm. Indian fans can watch the live telecast of this match on Star Sports and Sports 18 channels, while live streaming will be available on the JioHotstar app. It is going to be an exciting match for cricket lovers, as both teams will be putting full emphasis on maintaining their winning momentum.
However, according to the weather forecast, the probability of rain during the match can be 50 to 70 percent. The temperature is expected to hover around 15 degrees Celsius.
The pitch in Rawalpindi is considered to be batsman-friendly. Here the batsmen will get favorable conditions to score runs and the bowlers will have to work hard to stop the runs.
However, fast bowlers will have a chance to take wickets in the beginning. As the match progresses, the pitch may slow down and the spinners will start getting help. In the last match played at the same ground, New Zealand spinner Michael Bracewell took four wickets.
--IANS