South Africa captain Bavuma wins toss opts to bat against Afghanistan in Champions Trophy 2025

South Africa captain Temba Bavuma won the toss and opted to bat against Afghanistan, in Karachi on Friday. Both sides will be opening their respective campaign and this is the third Champions Trophy 2025 match. The Proteas are still hunting for their first ICC trophy, and Afghanistan, whose debut in the ICC Champions Trophy signals another big step in the rise of a nation attempting to establish itself as one of the world’s best.

Afghanistan’s debut is going to be an exciting one to watch, a country that seems to improve at cricket with every passing year, spearheaded by a couple of superstars but with plenty of quality players and firepower throughout now. Three massive victories in the 2023 ODI World Cup, notably over England and Pakistan, helped the team qualify for their first tilt in the Champions Trophy, where they will be captained by Hashmatullah Shahidi.

Afghanistan have enjoyed a fairly strong run since the World Cup as well, winning 8 and losing only five of the ODIs they have played since, giving them some sort of momentum heading into the tournament. Notably, this includes a 2-1 series win over today’s opponents South Africa, when they hosted the Proteas for a three-match series in Sharjah last year. This was no weakened South African unit either: it was their star players, most of the team involved in this tournament, who were simply outclassed in one of the more significant bilateral performances in recent memory.

All eyes will be on Rashid Khan, but



Afghanistan also boast of ICC’s ODI Player of the Year for 2024, with all-rounder Azmatullah Omarzai having averaged 52 with the bat and 20 with the ball to establish himself as one of the premier pace bowling all-rounders in Asia. Nothing to scoff at, given the rarity of his kind, and another big boost as Afghanistan try and shed the tag of the plucky underdog, and try to become recognised as true dark-horse contenders in their own right. They won’t consider their semifinal appearance at last year’s T20 World Cup to be an aberration.

Meanwhile, this generation of South African cricket strives to establish itself as arguably the best cross-format team once again, after a brief blip in recent years. Semifinal at the ODI World Cup, final at the T20 World Cup, and a World Test Championship final at Lord’s to look forward to, that’s all well and good for Temba Bavuma’s spirited and talented unit. But at home, and from shores abroad, the question is the same: where is the silverware to commemorate all that good work?

South Africa Team: Ryan Rickelton(w), Tony de Zorzi, Temba Bavuma(c), Rassie van der Dussen, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Wiaan Mulder, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi

Afghanistan Team: Rahmanullah Gurbaz(w), Ibrahim Zadran, Sediqullah Atal, Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi(c), Azmatullah Omarzai, Gulbadin Naib, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Noor Ahmad