Hashmatullah Shahidi-led Afghanistan cricket team is competing against Temba Bavuma's South Africa in match 3 of the ongoing edition of the ICC Champions Trophy at the National Stadium in Karachi, on February 21 (Friday). South Africa won the toss and elected to bat first. This is the first game from Group B and both teams will be eyeing to kick off their campaign with a stunning win. The Proteas will be playing this game without their batting star Heinrich Klaasen.
Captains at toss
"We will have a bat first. Looks a bit different that what we have been experiencing here, not sure how will it react. Will try to post a competitive total on the board. I have a lot of confidence in our bowling attack, today we have gone for a lone spinner in Shamsi and the rest are seamers," said Bavuma after winning the toss.
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"If we had won the toss, we would have batted first but the toss is not in our hands and we have to play good cricket. (On what it will take to beat South Africa) We played some quality cricket against them in Sharjah and we have quality spinners. Hopefully, we do well and can beat them. I will be more happy if we start well and take some wickets in the powerplay and give some momentum to our bowlers in the middle overs," said Shahidi.
AFG vs SA Playing XIs
South Africa: 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: Rahmanullah Gurbaz(w), Ibrahim Zadran, Sediqullah Atal, Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi(c), Azmatullah Omarzai, Gulbadin Naib, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Noor Ahmad