South Africa is firm on the ground with 83/1 against Afghanistan

Ryan Rickleton in South Africa reacts in a match of the ICC male champions trophy against Afghanistan at the National Stadium, Karachi on February 21, 2025. – Reuters

Karachi: South Africa won the draw and chose to fight first against Afghanistan in the third match of the Champions Trophy 2025 at the National Bank Cricket Stadium in Karachi on Friday.

At the end of 15, South Africa was held firmly against Afghanistan in the field with 83 points.

Meanwhile, it was an exciting start to men in blue while Mohammad Nabi came out Tony from Zorzi (11) with the help of Azmatullah Omarzai.

Earlier, after winning the draw, Captain of South Africa Temba Bavuma had expressed his confidence and said that his team “would try to score well”. Meanwhile, Captain Afghan Hashmatullah Shahidi said they went in the other direction, his team would have chosen to beat.

“We will be happy if we start well,” he said, adding: “We have already played the right cricket against South Africa.”

Earlier, at a pre-match press conference, Bavuma stressed the challenges posed by the attack on Spin-Lourde in Afghanistan and stressed the importance of adapting to the conditions in Karachi.

Bavuma had noted that Karachi’s surfaces had been adapted to the striker, the teams constantly displaying scores around 300 in recent matches. However, he underlined the need for his bowling unit to remain disciplined and precise to counter the trend at high score.

“Our challenge as a bowling alit is to be one of the most disciplined and precise bowling units,” he said.

“From a stick point of view, the pressure of the dashboard is a great thing. The guys enter, by ensuring that they become large so that we can challenge for these type 330 to 350 scores.”

On the other hand, Shahidi underlined the success of his team over the years and said they were ready for the tournament at eight teams, rejecting the notion of being under pressure while facing Africa of the Africa South, which has a slight advantage in the head to head.

“Many things have changed since 2019 and recently, we have beat them 2-1 in Sharjah. So we have this confidence with us and we are not under pressure because for the moment, we focus on what we can Do in this tournament, “said Shahidi.

“I believe that our team is ready for this tournament and we only focus on our team, so there is no pressure on us,” he added.

Play xis

Afghanistan: Rahmanullah Gurbaz (W), Ibrahim Zadran, Sediqulah Atal, Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi (C), Azmatullah Omarzai, Gulbadin Naib, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Noor Ahmad.

South Africa: 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.

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