South Africa will bat first against Afghanistan.
The wicketkeeper batter Heinrich Klaasen will miss out on South Africa’s Champions Trophy 2025 contest against Afghanistan as a precautionary measure due to a left elbow soft tissue injury. Ryan Rickelton has been included in the playing XI as a replacement. Shockingly, Tristan Stubbs also couldn’t find his place in the playing XI. It is the first match from Group B and it is underway at Karachi.
Protea skipper Temba Bavuma won the toss and elected to bat first against Afghanistan.
Toss 🪙:
— Proteas Men (@ProteasMenCSA) February 21, 2025
🇿🇦 South Africa won the toss and have elected to BAT first 🏏.
Here's a look at our playing 11 for this first game.#WozaNawe #BePartOfIt #ChampionsTrophy #AFGvSA pic.twitter.com/fCA35UxS6Q
The 33-year-old comes on the back of some match-winning knocks. Before the ICC event, Pakistan also hosted a tri-nation series involving New Zealand. In his only ODI in that series, Klaasen struck an 87-run-knock including 11 fours and three sixes. Klaasen also comes on the back of featuring in 10 SA20 2024-25 games for the Durban Super Giants. He batted at No.6, two spots lower than his usual. He made 198 runs in eight innings at a strike rate of 134.69 and included two fifties. Klaasen was the second-highest run-getter for his team after Kane Williamson.
Klaasen didn’t make it to the Champions Trophy warm-up match either. Instead, Ryan Rickelton joined the team with a 57 off 49 before he was retired hurt. Rickelton, the opening batter, took his SA20 team MI Cape Town to clinch their maiden trophy. In the final match, the 28-year-old smashed a 15-ball 33 to give a solid start to his team. Overall in the series, he returned with 336 runs in the same number of innings as Klaasen. Rickelton struck three fifties and played at a strike rate of 178.72.
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South Africa: Ryan Rickelton (wicketkeeper), Tony de Zorzi, Temba Bavuma (captain), Rassie van der Dussen, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Wiaan Mulder, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi.
Afghanistan: Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wicketkeeper), Ibrahim Zadran, Sediqullah Atal, Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi (captain), Azmatullah Omarzai, Gulbadin Naib, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Noor Ahmad.
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