Afghanistan vs South Africa Live Score, Champions Trophy: Giant slayers AFG out to douse Protea fire

Afghanistan vs South Africa Live Score, Champions Trophy: Rashid Khan looks to bamboozle South Africa in Karachi.

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?

The pieces are all there. A phenomenal middle order with Tristan Stubbs, Heinrich Klaasen, and David Miller, experienced pros in Aiden Markram and Bavuma, spin through Keshav Maharaj and Tabraiz Shamsi, a pace attack led by Kagiso Rabada, inarguably the best seamer in the competition still left standing. This team has made a habit of making deep runs in tournaments, but they still need that extra oomph to get over the line.

They will, however, not consider the Afghanistan team to be pushovers by any means. These two teams have only competed in five ODIs ever, and it’s a narrow 3-2 lead for South Africa in terms of head-to-head. One of the South African wins came all the way back in the 2019 World Cup, which may as well be 60 years ago and not just 6 in terms of how rapidly the Afghans have progressed. South Africa’s batting was dominated by Afghanistan’s bowling twice in Sharjah last year, so the wariness and the respect against this opposition will be very, very real from the Proteas.

Both teams will have the benefit of having watched the opening match of this tournament played in Karachi, and will know what the pitch will play like. With minimal movement and plenty of runs to be had, the powerful hitters on both teams will be licking their lips — but this also means it could very easily come down to how well Rashid Khan performs, and if he can break the spin-vulnerable batting of South Africa. They will miss the massively talented Allah Ghazanfar, but have able replacements in Noor Ahmad and Mujeeb-ur-Rahman. Similarly, can Rabada, Jansen and company be potent for the Proteas if the pitch doesn’t offer their bowlers too much lateral movement? In a wide-open Group B, this promises to be a hugely significant contest.