Afghanistan vs South Africa Champions Trophy: Pitch Report & Weather Report of Karachi ahead of this exciting contest
The third match of the ICC Men's Champions Trophy 2025 is set to be played today i.e on 21st February between the Afghanistan National Cricket Team & the South African National Cricket Team. This upcoming contest is going to be the first match of Group-B. This mouth watering contest between the two sides will be played at the iconic National Bank Stadium of Karachi from 2:30 PM IST (Indian Standard Time) onwards.
This forthcoming encounter will also be the opening match of both teams in the current edition of the Champions Trophy. Afghanistan will be playing under the leadership of Hashmatullah Shahidi while South Africa, on the other hand, will be captained by Temba Bavuma.
The Hashmatullah Shahidi led-Afghan Atalans finished sixth in the overall standings of the 2023 ODI World Cup, securing victories in four out of nine games. The Proteas, on the other hand, have shown terrific performances with both bat & ball in the last two ICC white-ball tournaments. Both teams will be looking to start off the Champions Trophy on a winning note.
The Hashmatullah Shahidi-led team will be making their debut in the marquee ICC event, as their good performance in the ODI World Cup of 2023 in India helped them secure qualification for the Champions Trophy.
The Afghan Atalans had successfully defeated the South Africans by a margin of 2-1 in the three-match ODI series between the two teams just a few months ago in September of 2024. This way, the confidence of the Hashmatullah Shahidi-led team will be really high and they will be looking to cause a big upset by getting the better of the Proteas.
Since this upcoming contest between the two teams will be their first match in the ongoing Champions Trophy, they would be looking to perform in a brilliant manner and start off their respective campaigns on a winning note. Each group stage match of the eight-team tournament is considered as must win ones which increases the importance of this forthcoming contest even more.
Afghanistan vs South Africa Champions Trophy: Head-2-Head records between both teams in One Day Cricket
A total of five One Day International matches have taken place so far between Afghanistan & South Africa. The Proteas have had the upper hand in this H2H battle as they have won three out of five games whereas the Afghans have managed to win on just two occasions. This way, we can clearly see that the Proteas have the edge over the Afghan Atalans.
South Africa won - 3
Afghanistan work 2
Afghanistan vs South Africa Champions Trophy: Pitch Report of the National Bank Stadium of Karachi
The pitch of the National Bank Stadium of Karachi is known as a batters paradise. It has a long history of favoring the batters more and the seam bowlers will be getting little to nothing help on this surface, while the spin bowlers can prove to be effective due to the slow nature of the pitch. The dew factor can also play an important in deciding the outcome of the match in the evening period, due to which the toss winning captain might go ahead and choose to field first.
Afghanistan vs South Africa Champions Trophy: Weather Report of the city of Karachi
In accordance to the weather reports of AccuWeather, the city of Karachi is anticipated to experience a partly cloudy sky on Friday with the temperature expected to hover around the 30 degrees Celsius mark. The humidity levels are expected to stay between 30 to 40 percent, but the chances of rain interfering with the match are zero.
Afghanistan vs South Africa Champions Trophy: Probable playing 11's of both teams
Afghanistan: Ibrahim Zadran, Rahmanullah Gurbaz (WK), Hashmatullah Shahidi (Captain), Rahmat Shah, Mohammad Nabi, Azmatullah Omarzai, Rashid Khan, Gulbadin Naib, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Noor Ahmed & Farid Ahmed Malik.
South Africa: Temba Bavuma (Captain), Aiden Markram, Toni de Zorzi, Heinrich Klaasen (WK), Rassie van der Dussen, David Miller, Keshav Maharaj, Marco Jansen, Lungisiani Ngidi, Kagiso Rabada and Tabraiz Shamsi.