Afghanistan vs South Africa Live Score, Champions Trophy 2025: Ryan Rickleton’s Century Powers SA’s Dominance

Afghanistan vs South Africa Live Score, Champions Trophy 2025: South African captain Temba Bavuma has won the toss and opted to bat first against Afghanistan in the Group B opener of the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 on Friday in Karachi.

Notably, Afghanistan is making its Champions Trophy debut after some impressive performances in ODIs since 2023, including the ODI World Cup in India. Meanwhile, South Africa will once again attempt to shed the 'chokers' tag. South Africa's only ICC title came in 1998 during the inaugural Champions Trophy, then known as Knockout Trophy.

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.

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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 boasts 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.

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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?

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