Solid South Africa; shaky Afghanan
If South Africa didn’t enter the tournament as favourites, the pitiless dismembering of Afghanan showed they are sturdy enough to mount a serious title challenge. Afghanan, on the other hand, were toothless and without the personnel and wisdom of chasing down 300-plus totals in this format.
All bases covered
A few doubts lingered about South Africa. Is Ryan Rickelton a worthy heir of Quinton de Kock? Can David Miller alone inject death-over impetus in the (injury-enforced) absence of Heinrich Klaassen? How fit and sharp is Kagiso Rabada? The Proteas found encouraging answers to every question that lurked over them.
South Africa’s Ryan Rickelton celebrates after scoring century during the ICC Champions Trophy cricket match between Afghanan and South Africa, in Karachi, Pakan Friday, Feb. 21, 2025. (AP Photo)
Rickelton crunched a hundred of skill and power. Miller did not fire, but Aidem Markram reminded the world of his big-hitting dimensions during a splendid 36-ball 52. Rabada bowled with fire and precision. Nothing exemplified it more than the 148 kph thunderbolt he unleashed to hammer the stumps of Ibrahim Zadran, the ball after he was smeared for a maximum. He hit stifling lengths, extracted steep bounce from a dead track and hustled batsmen. Rabada, a rejuvenated Lungi Ngidi, the nippy Marco Jansen, the crafty Wiaan Mulder and the wise Keshav Maharaj could inflict wounds on better batting line-ups than Afghanan’s.
Holes to fix
The curve is crawling upwards and it would definitely scale higher heights, but Afghanan have a few stones to turn over before they become a genuinely dangerous side. Chasing big totals continues to unnerve them; their approach is muddled, caught up between all-out attack and wicket preservation for the death-over dance. They end up doing neither, and are consigned to playing catch up cricket for much of the innings. The new-ball spell lacked penetration, the seamers erred on the shorter side, and a genuine quick was severely missed. The spin trio of Rashid Khan, Mohammed Nabi and Noor Ahmed is their biggest strength, but when good batsmen foil them with expert foot work and dizzying power, they need a plan B to nab wickets. More than anything, their lack of depth in this format was exposed. They could indeed plot an upset, but are from being dark horses, let alone semifinal aspirants.
