South Africa and Afghanistan will feature in the first Group B game of the Champions Trophy 2025. February 21 will feature the first game of group B which will take place between Afghanistan (AFG) and South Africa (SA) at the National Stadium in Karachi. This is set to be a battle between the mighty Proteas and the debuting underdogs who have taken the cricketing world by storm with some talented players in the mix.
Group B of the Champions Trophy gets underway with a fixture between the dream side of the last two tournaments, Afghanistan, and the one which has nightmares about the number of times it has not got its hands on the trophy, South Africa.
SA vs AFG : Previous Performances
The Afghanistan team might be playing their first-ever Champions Trophy but have enjoyed a great run in ODI cricket. Hashmatullah Shahidi-led side has won their last four ODI series going into the tournament which also includes a 2-1 victory against South Africa. This is enough to give them confidence going into the ICC event.
Afghanistan will make their Champions Trophy bow on the back of strong performances at the 2023 ODI World Cup, where they narrowly missed out on a semi-final spot, and an impressive run in the format since then.
They have won four out of five bilateral series, (albeit two of those against Ireland and Zimbabwe, who are not at this tournament) and reached the T20 World Cup semi-final in-between. A short, sharp event like this one presents them with a stunning opportunity to swoop in and claim a major tournament title. Imagine if they do it before South Africa
The South African team on the other hand might still be considered favourites but their last few encounters in the format have been underwhelming so far. The side has faced a lot of injuries and ended the Tri-series on a terrible note not losing all their games. It is safe to say that the T20 World Cup 2024 finalists will be under pressure going into the tournament.
To be fair to South Africa they have in fact won the Champions Trophy before – in its inaugural edition in 1998, when it was called the ICC Knockout and played in as cut-throat a structure as it gets. Like it says it on the tin: lose a game, and you’re out. Then, South Africa managed to win all three. This time, to win the cup, teams will have to play five matches and they can even afford a slip up (but probably only one). South Africa’s issue is that recently they have stumbled much more.
They’ve lost three of their four bilateral ODI series since the last World Cup including their last six ODIs but that record isn’t weighing on them. They’ve used ODIs as a development exercise, and have capped 10 new players since the 2023 ODI World Cup. For the first time since that, they have their best available players together and as they showed at last year’s T20 World Cup, where they reached the final, when they’re at full-strength, they are stronger than many expect.
Afghanistan and South Africa are all set to face each other on the After stepping into the Champions Trophy, they defeated Zimbabwe in an ODI series by a 2-0 margin. But they faced two heartbreaking defeats in the warm-up matches. Conversely, South Africa played a tri-series against New Zealand and Pakistan where they faced two consecutive defeats. Before stepping onto the big stage that is a setback. But both sides are anticipating a thrilling tournament.
SA vs AFG : Head to Head
| Matches Played | 5 |
| Won by Afghanistan | 02 |
| Won by South Africa | 03 |
| Tied | 00 |
| No Result | 00 |
| First-ever Fixture | 15 Jun 2019 |
| Most-recent Fixture | 22 Sep 2024 |
SA vs AFG : Pitch Report
The pitch at National Stadium, Karachi is generally favorable for batting, providing good pace and bounce. New ball bowlers might struggle to find movement, which allows batters to score more freely. While spinners may experience some turn, the overall conditions are anticipated to remain steady throughout the match. The surface is not expected to alter significantly in the second innings, maintaining a balanced contest.
Speaking of the Stadium in Karachi the last game saw the batters struggle to get going straight away. The surface seemed to get tougher to play on as the game progressed where the pacers got some uneven bounce and the spinners managed to get some grip and turn. Looking at the previous game the captains might consider batting first and putting on a formidable total to defend in the second innings.
Karachi has been providing plenty of runs, with New Zealand scoring 320 in the tournament opener on Wednesday and Pakistan completing their highest successful ODI chase at the venue – 353 – against South Africa in the mini tri-series last week. Word is that more of the same is expected.
South Africa’s attack, especially their spinners, have spoken about honing their defensive strategies, which suggests they’re preparing for a high-scoring encounter in which the batters will have the opportunity to make big statements. They won’t be the only ones doing that. Afghanistan expect the match to be like a home game for them, with a significant expat population in Karachi. A hot, dry day/night. And, of course, around 600 runs on perhaps the flattest pitch in all of cricket. At least, the flattest this side of Lahore and Rawalpindi.
SA vs AFG : Big Picture : Red hot Afghanistan ready to take on unpredictable South Africa in an exciting match
Group B’s first match, between Afghanistan and South Africa in Karachi on Friday, could be the biggest game on this side of the Champions Trophy draw. And that despite the fact that Australia and England are also in the mix.
The Australians are depleted and have limped into the tournament having lost their last four ODIs. England staggered over the border from India, where they were beaten in seven of their eight white-ball games. Not that South Africa have been in the best form: they have gone down in six consecutive ODIs. But that was without several of their first-choice players, who were busy with franchise T20 commitments. They’re back to full strength, and they will need to be.
The Afghans have won eight of their last 10 completed ODIs, including a 2-1 series win over South Africa in Sharjah in September. It isn’t often in games between these teams that Afghanistan are considered favourites. This could be one of those times, although the returning South Africans who missed the Sharjah rubber will even the odds at least.
More certain is that South African cricket has always had a special place in the hearts and minds of Pakistanis, perhaps because of the countries’ shared pedigree for producing fine fast bowlers. Temba Bavuma’s team will welcome the locals’ support, because the stands are likely to heave with Afghans.
Some 3.1-million people from the perennially strife struck country have taken refuge in Pakistan. That’s more than 7% of Afghanistan’s current population. As many as 360,000 of them are thought to be in Karachi, where it takes only 30,000 to fill the ground. Pakistan also has a special relationship with Afghan cricket in that it is where many of the latter’s players learnt the game as refugees in the 1990s. They had fled the Taliban, which seized control of Afghanistan in 1996 and banned cricket until 2000.
Because of the political and security situation in their country, Afghanistan have never played an international match at home. Of their 327 games, 202 have been played at neutral venues and the other 125 away.
The Taliban were deposed in 2001 but returned to power in 2021, and have imposed increasingly repressive regulations on women. That has led to calls for Afghanistan’s opponents to boycott matches against them. Australia and England have suspended bilateral ties with the Afghans, but no team have yet pulled out of their tournament fixtures.
It would be amiss to preview this fixture without noting that if was up to South Africa’s sports minister Gayton McKenzie, this match would not be happening at all. He compared the Taliban regime’s treatment of women to Apartheid and said it would be “hypocritical and immoral” to look the other way. But Cricket South Africa disagrees and has both sough out bilateral fixtures against Afghanistan – their September 2024 series was not on the FTP – and explained why it doesn’t think shunning Afghanistan will lead to meaningful change.
This is a narrative that will only get stronger through the tournament as Afghanistan’s next two opponents. England and Australia, also face internal pressure to not play against them but confirmed the fixtures will go ahead. The Afghanistan team is caught in the crossfire and captain Hashmatullah Shahidi brought out the old “we can only control… the controllable things”, but their presence keeps the conversation going.
Asked during his press conference on Thursday whether the boycott narrative had put pressure on his players, Hashmatullah Shahidi said, “As sportsmen our job is to play cricket. We don’t care what’s going on outside. We can only control the things in the ground so we focus on that. We just do the controllable things.”
These teams’ last meeting at an ICC event was at last year’s T20 World Cup. They clashed in the semifinals after Afghanistan had won five of their seven games, beating New Zealand, Bangladesh and Australia along the way. The South Africans ended their dream by bowling them out for 56 in 11.5 overs on a dreadful Tarouba pitch, and winning by nine wickets with 67 balls to spare.
Karachi’s surface won’t be anything like Tarouba’s, so Friday’s game will be a far fairer reflection of the teams’ abilities. The South Africans should prevail, but not without a fight.
SA vs AFG : In the spotlight : South Africa’s experience and Afghanistan’s spinners
South Africa’s white-ball coach Rob Walter’s big-players-will-step-up-for-big-occasions mantra will be put to the test at this tournament with David Miller and Kagiso Rabada in full focus. They are only two members of the squad with more than 100 ODI caps to their names and are seen as the leaders of the line-up and attack respectively.
While Miller has the advantage of a strong top-order to lay the foundations the innings, Rabada has the task of being the spearhead of a pack that can expect conditions to be difficult for them. They’ll both be expected to have cool heads and provide wise counsel as South Africa attempt to take home silverware.
Afghanistan have the advantage of recent experience against South Africa thanks to the number of players who were part of the SA20, and Noor Ahmed and Rashid Khan enjoyed the most success. They were the highest wicket-takers for their respective franchises (Noor for Durban Super Giants and Rashid joint-highest with Rabada for MI Cape Town).
While South Africa’s overall approach to spin is much-improved in recent years, they still have a habit of getting themselves tangled up and Afghanistan will hope to exploit that through two of their best.
SA vs AFG : Vital Stats that matters
- Afghanistan have won their last four ODI series including against South Africa in September last year in Sharjah. South Africa (currently fifth) are the highest ranked team Afghanistan have achieved a series win over. However, South Africa did not field a full strength side for that series.
- Rashid Khan has taken nine wickets in four ODIs against South Africa, at an average of 14.55. Though seven of those came during the above mentioned series, of the South Africa batters who are in their Champions Trophy squad, Rashid has six wickets at 10.67 at an economy of 3.46 since January 2023.
- In ODIs, Heinrich Klaasen has the best strike rate by a South African batter who has scored a minimum of 1,000 runs in the format and the third- best amongst all batters with that cutoff.
- South Africa have lost three of the four ODIs they have played at this ground.
- Only two of Afghanistan’s 175 ODIs have been in Pakistan. Both were in Lahore, where they were beaten by Bangladesh and Sri Lanka in the 2023 Asia Cup.
- Teams batting first in ODIs at this ground have won 27 times. Teams fielding first Twenty-eight times.
SA vs AFG : Team News for SA and AFG
South Africa :
South Africa could be forced to bench both Ryan Rickelton and Tristan Stubbs in what is an already strong batting line-up. Aiden Markram’s more-than-part-time offspin means they may consider only one specialist spinner in Keshav Maharaj, which will create room for both seam bowling allrounders – Wiaan Mulder and Marco Jansen – and two other frontline quicks.
Tony de Zorzi scored 55 off 51 against Pakistan Shaheens in Karachi on Monday, but that was only his second half-century in 18 innings across all formats and levels. It may not be enough for him to keep his place in the XI.
South Africa Probable XI : Temba Bavuma (capt), Ryan Rickelton, Rassie van der Dussen, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Heinrich Klaasen (wk.), Marco Jansen, Wiaan Mulder, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Tabraiz Shamsi
Afghanistan :
Ibrahim Zadran will return to the Afghan XI after last playing for them in March. He has been out with an ankle injury but has had some time at the crease in the ILT20. With AM Ghazanfar out with a back problem, they will have to choose between left-arm wrist spinner Noor Ahmed, who had success at the SA20, and left-arm finger spinner Nangeyalia Kharote.
That would give them a variety of spin options, alongside Rashid Khan and Mohammad Nabi in the team and four seam bowlers to boot. Ibrahim Zadran is set to play his first international since returning in December from more than three months out with an ankle injury.
Afghanistan Probable XI : Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk.), Ibrahim Zadran, Sediqullah Atal, Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi (capt), Azmatullah Omarzai, Gulbadin Naib, Mohammad Nabi, Nangyal Kharoti, Rashid Khan, Noor Ahmad
SA vs AFG Fantasy XI : Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk.), Ibrahim Zadran, Azmatullah Omarzai, Rashid Khan, Noor Ahmad, Rassie van der Dussen, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Heinrich Klaasen (wk.), Marco Jansen, Kagiso Rabada
SA vs AFG : Probable Best Players of the Match
Probable best batter
The last match in Karachi witnessed the spinners getting some grip from the wicket and the player who knows how to counter-attack the spinners is Heinrich Klaasen. Klassen has proved to be one of the most destructive middle-order batters and this is the ground where he can once again showcase his abilities.
Probable best bowler
Rashid Khan has already established himself as a living legend in the Afghanistan side. The 26-year-old spin-bowling all-rounder has been consistent with his form when it comes to taking wickets and is always a dangerous player in the white-ball format.
SA vs AFG : Match Prediction
Considering the conditions, the toss-winning captain will choose to chase down the total. If they bat first after South Africa challenges them to do so, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Ibrahim Zadran, and captain Hashmatullah Shahidi will be big forces in the Afghan top order.
While batting first, if Afghanistan loses a few early wickets, the middle will have a huge boost As Azmatullah Omarzai, Rahmat Shah and Gulbadin Naib can provide solid assistance to the middle order. With their stability and intent, they can push the total to a competitive 260-270 runs.
Scenario 1
- Afghanistan win the toss and opt to bat first.
- Powerplay: 60-70
- AFG: 260-280
- Afghanistan wins the match.
Even after winning the toss, the captain will likely bowl first but South Africa can bat first if Afghanistan asks them to do so. Even after Temba Bavuma is struggling with his form, Tony de Zorzi and Heinrich Klaasen will be crucial for the team.
If they set the stage well, David Miller, Aiden Markram, and Marco Jansen can push the team to put on a huge total. Analyzing their batting depth, the team can put a total of 290-300 runs on the board to put pressure on the opponent.
Scenario 2
- South Africa win the toss and opt to bat first.
- Powerplay: 70-90
- SA: 270-290
- South Africa wins the match.