He scored his maiden ODI century against Afghanistan.
Former South Africa player Hashim Amla has heaped praises for Ryan Rickelton along with India’s Shubman Gill and Rishabh Pant. In an exclusive interaction with the PTI videos, Amla reckons that these players are the next best thing in international cricket.
He said, “For India, you have got Shubham Gill; Rishabh Pant has been around for a while. For South Africa, we have Ryan Rickelton who has done really well off late. Every country has about 2-3 cricketers who are going to come through and I think that’s pretty normal, that you see that every five years some youngster poke in the head through international cricket, and possibly be the next best, big thing.”
Amla’s compliments come after Rickelton’s maiden ODI century against Afghanistan during the Champions Trophy 2025 clash.
History has been made! #RyanRickelton becomes the first WK/batter from South Africa to score a century in the Champions Trophy. #ChampionsTrophyOnJioStar 👉🏻 Afghanistan 🆚 South Africa | LIVE NOW on Star Sports 2 & Sports 18-1!
— Star Sports (@StarSportsIndia) February 21, 2025
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During South Africa’s Champions Trophy opener against Afghanistan in Karachi, Temba Bavuma won the toss and elected to bat first. Rickelton replaced Heinrich Klaasen who was out of the playing XI as a precautionary measure for his injury. The 28-year-old played a brilliant knock to score his maiden century in ODIs, achieving the feat in just his seventh match. The opener struck 103 runs in 106 deliveries at a strike rate of 97.16. His knock included seven boundaries and a six before losing his wicket in an unlucky runout.
Skipper (58), Rassie van der Dussen (52), and Aiden Markram (52) contributed to propel South Africa to a decent 315/6. During the Afghans’ chase, Rahmat Shah (90) played with bated breath as no other batter crossed the 20-run mark. Rahmanullah Gurbaz’s side fell to the Protea’s pace attack. Eventually, Rickelton bagged the Player of the Match for his heroics with the bat. With the gloves, he sealed the crucial wickets of Rahmat Shah and Azmatullah Omarzai.
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Earlier, Rickelton was a part of MI Cape Town’s title-winning SA20 campaign. The southpaw made 336 runs in eight games including a 15-ball 33 power-hitting in the Final. The Mumbai Indians (MI) camp would be relieved by their new signing, having secured the wicketkeeper-batter for INR 1 crore in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 auction. He is well-equipped to step into Ishan Kishan’s role.
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