South Africa’s Ryan Rickelton enthralled the crowd in Karachi with an entertaining century against Afghanistan in a Champions Trophy 2025 Group B encounter on Friday. Rickelton scored his maiden ODI century in 101 balls, hitting seven fours and one six.
By doing so, Rickelton became the first South African batter to score a century in his Champions Trophy debut. This is Rickelton’s maiden ICC event as well.
He also broke the legendary AB de Villiers’ record as he became the South African wicketkeeper with the highest score in the Champions Trophy. AB de Villiers had scored 70 against India in the 2013 edition of the Champions Trophy in England.
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Rickelton opened the innings for the Proteas after they elected to bat on Friday. He lost his opening partner Tony de Zorzi (11) in the sixth over. However, Rickelton and skipper Temba Bavuma (58) forged a 129-run stand for the second wicket to put South Africa back on track. Rickelton was eventually dismissed for 103 after he was run out in the 36th over.
At the IPL 2025 mega auction in Jeddah last year, the 28-year-old had been acquired by Mumbai Indians (MI) for his base price of Rs 1 crore.
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Ryan Rickelton made his ODI debut against West Indies in March 2023. He was out for 14 runs in that match. To date, the Johannesburg-born cricketer has played seven ODIs and scored 291 runs at an average of 31.33.
Earlier, Rickelton was preferred over Heinrich Klaasen in the playing XI who sat out the match as a precautionary measure.
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