Powerful Proteas looking to start well against feisty Afghanistan
South Africa will begin their quest to win the ICC Champions Trophy when they take on Afghanistan at Karachi’s National Stadium on Friday.
As much as South Africa is ranked above Afghanistan on the ICC ODI rankings—the Proteas are in fifth place, and Afghanistan is in eighth place—it is unclear who comes into the game as favourites. The last time these two sides met, Afghanistan won the series, triumphing 2-1 in Sharjah.
In total there have been 57 ODI’s played at the National Stadium. There is no real difference between batting first or second in Karachi. There have been 27 instances of the side batting first winning and 28 of the side batting second winning. Two games ended with no result.
In terms of choices at toss time, on 32 occasions, the winning skipper chose to bat, while 25 times they opted to field first. If it is windless, then games under lights do have a tendency to be affected by dew – that is why Pakistan opted to bat first in the tournament’s opening game.
South Africa v Afghanistan | Champions Trophy Game 3 | Friday 21 February 2025 | National Stadium, Karachi | 11:00am
South Africa South Africa’s preparation for the series hasn’t been ideal – but it has been targeted. Their last ODI outing against Pakistan, was at Karachi’s National Stadium, so it is a venue they know well.
The Proteas won’t be too worried about the fact that they lost both their warm-up games in the tri-series with Pakistan and New Zealand. They fielded a very different team to the one that will play in the Champions Trophy, with big names like Kagiso Rabada, Ryan Rickelton, Rassie van der Dussen, David Miller, Aiden Markram, Marco Jansen and Tristan Stubbs all absent. The Proteas didn’t struggle for runs in either of the warm-up games, but the arrival of their stars will be a big boost, nevertheless.
It will be interesting to see who opens for the Proteas, or more specifically how they configure their top three. Skipper Temba Bavuma looks set to open, but who will walk out to the middle with him. It could be Tony de Zorzi or Ryan Rickelton – or they could both play with one coming in at three. In that event though space still needs to be found for Rassie van der Dussen, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Heinrich Klaasen and Stubbs. Somebody has to miss out somewhere… In the warm-up game against the Shaheens Bavuma sat out while De Zorzi and Rickelton scored 57 and 55 respectively before retiring.
As much as the game against Afghanistan appears to be easiest in the pool, this could well be misleading. The other teams in Pool B are Australia and England, both of whom come into the group on the back of some very poor form – England were whipped 3-0 by India while Australia lost twice in going down to Sri Lanka.
Heinrich Klaasen is the highest ranked of the South African batsmen, currently at fourth on the ICC list he has been in good form in his recent outings. While he didn’t bat in the warm-up game against the Shaheens he scored 87 against Pakistan and 76* in his final SA20 outing.
While the wicket in Karachi is expected to be batsman friendly it should still do a bit for the bowlers early on. With the attack that did duty in the tri-series bolstered by the arrival of two in-form quicks,
Jansen and Rabada, South Africa could be a handful. While Jansen and Rabada were excellent in SA20, Wiaan Mulder looks likely to be a big factor for the Proteas as well. Back from injury he showed his class with both the bat and ball in the tri-series, and he scored 42 against the Shaheens, in a game that also saw him return figures of three for 27.
Afghanistan They are comparatively recent arrivals on the world stage, but make no mistake about it, Afghanistan is a quality side. They come into the Champions Trophy with two standout players, Rashid Khan and Rahmanullah Gurbaz, but they are also a very tight and well drilled unit. Speaking to the media ahead of Friday’s game skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi was quick to make it clear that his side were not there to make up the numbers. They have qualified ahead of teams like Sri Lanka and West Indies, and they have recent ODI series wins over South Africa and Bangladesh. “We are doing very good, and, in this tournament, we are here to compete, and our aim is to win the final,” Shahidi said. “We are definitely, 100% looking to win this event and at the same time because we played a lot of quality cricket from last two years and it’s a good chance for us because the boys are very experienced, and these conditions are also suitable for us. So, we have a good chance and let’s start it from tomorrow and hopefully we start with the win, and we go with the same momentum throughout the tournament.”
Up until the start of the week Khan was the top ranked ODI bowler in the world. He is genuinely world-class and a player in form. Most recently he led MI Cape Town to glory in the SA20 competition, but he is more than just a useful T20 competitor. With best ODI figures of seven for 18 and an average 19.87, Khan heads into Friday’s encounter two wickets shy of 200 in ODIs.
Although he struggled a bit for form in the SA20, Rahmanullah Gurbaz is another player who has proved himself as a standout ODI player. The wicketkeeper batsman averages 39.31 in ODIs and has a highest score of 151. In the game second ODI of the recent series against South Africa, the match that saw Afghanistan take the series, Gurbaz scored 105 runs from 110 balls to show his class.
As much as they are not playing at home, expect there to be big support for Afghanistan in Karachi. They neighbour Pakistan and there is a big expatriate community in Pakistan. Confirming this Afghanistan skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi told the media: “First of all, about people here – there are a lot of Afghans. They live here in Karachi and in Pakistan and also a lot of Pashtun people, I think, they support us. So yeah, yesterday there was a lot of crowds shouting for us during training and it feels good, and it gives us confidence that we have supporters here and about our performance.”
Verdict: South Africa The proteas should be good enough to get this over the line, but it won’t be a walk in the park. On what is expected to be a batsman friendly track it is the Proteas bowlers who should prove the difference.
