KARACHI (Azaad English): Afghanistan will take on South Africa in the third match of the ICC Champions Trophy 2025. The AFG vs SA match is set to be played at the National Stadium in Karachi on February 21.
This match holds significance for Afghanistan as it will be their debut at the prestigious Champions Trophy tournament. Afghanistan will make their tournament debut on the back of strong performances at the 2023 One Day International (ODI) World Cup, where they narrowly missed out on a semi-final spot. They have won four out of their last 5 bilateral series and reached the T20 World Cup semi-final in between.
This tournament could prove to be an excellent opportunity for them to win a trophy.
When asked about being the underdogs at the tournament, Hashmatullah Shahidi, the Afghanistan captain responded, “Right now we are focusing on what we can do in this tournament. I believe that our team is more ready for this tournament and we are focusing on our own team. There is no pressure on us.”
South Africa, winners of the first edition of the Champions Trophy in 1998, come into this match with a strong legacy. However, their recent ODI form has been concerning as they’ve suffered 6 consecutive losses before the tournament. The South African team will be keen to break their losing streak and start their campaign with a win.
They’ve lost 3 of their last 4 bilateral ODI series but that shouldn’t be too much of a concern to them. They’ve used ODIs as a development exercise and have fielded 10 new players since the 2023 ODI World Cup. For the first time since then, they have all their best players available. As they showed last year, when they reached the T20 World Cup final, when they are at full strength, they are stronger than many expect.
“Like all the tournaments, we will come in with the prospect of seeing ourselves in the final but eventually, obviously, getting over the line,” said the South African captain, Temba Bavuma.
The main highlight for the AFG vs SA game is their explosive batting lineups, with Afghanistan’s power at the top of the order with their opening pair of Ibrahim Zadran and Rahmanullah Gurbaz and South Africa’s in the middle order.
That makes the matchups between Afghanistan’s top order and South Africa’s seamers and the Afghanistan spinners against the South African middle order the ones to watch out for.
Pitch conditions for Afg vs SA:
Based on the opening match of the tournament, the pitch at the National Bank Stadium in Karachi is going to favour the batting side. While seamers may experience some movement with the new ball, the pitch is expected to offer less support as the match goes on.
Given these conditions, the team that wins the toss may opt to bat first.
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