RSA vs ENG: Will the National Stadium of Karachi favor batters or bowlers? Check-out the pitch reports
The South Africa National Cricket Team, under the leadership of Temba Bavuma, are set to take on Jos Buttler's England in the final Group-B match of the ICC Men's Champions Trophy 2025 on Friday, 1st of March. The game will be played at the National Stadium in Karachi and it will commence from 2:30 PM IST (Indian Standard Time) onwards.
The Proteas are currently sitting at the top of the Group-B points table with three points to their name. They are followed by Australia at the 2nd place but since the Net-Run-Rate (NRR) of the South Africans is better, they are ahead of the Kangaroos in the overall standings.
England, on the other hand, are already knocked out of the tournament after losing both their first two group stage games. The 2019 ODI World Cup winners kicked off their Champions Trophy 2025 campaign with a five-wicket defeat to arch rivals Australia before going on to suffer a shocking 8-run defeat at the hands of Afghanistan in Lahore.
A win in this match will guarantee Semi-finals qualification to the Tema Bavuma-led side while England will be looking to end the eight-team tournament on a high by defeating the Proteas in their final match. Ahead of this thrilling contest, let's take a look at the pitch report of Karach's National Stadium.
South Africa vs England Champions Trophy: Pitch Report of Karachi's National Stadium
The last two encounters played at the National Stadium in Karachi have shown that there's enough support from the surface for the batters to score 300 runs. So, yet another good batting track is anticipated to be on display for the forthcoming South Africa versus England contest.
Bowlers will have to work hard to keep the batters in check, otherwise they will put up a score of more than 300 runs on the board easily. Both seamers and spinners shall receive a balanced amount of support from the surface.
Considering the previous two games at this ground have been won by the teams defending totals of 300+ runs, the toss winning captain should opt to bat first.
South Africa vs England Champions Trophy: Probable playing 11s of both teams
South Africa: Ryan Rickelton (wk), Temba Bavuma (captain), Aiden Markram, David Miller, Rassie van der Dussen, Wiaan Mulder, Heinrich Klassen, Keshav Maharaj, Marco Jansen, Kagiso Rabada and Lungisiani Ngidi.
England: Jamie Smith (WK), Phil Salt, Joe Root, Ben Duckett, Liam Livingstone, Harry Brook, Jamie Overton, Jos Buttler (Captain), Adil Rashid, Jofra Archer and Mark Wood.