The toss, opening comments, and playing XIs

South Africa won the toss and chose to bat. The Proteas’s skipper Temba Bavuma said that the wicket seemed different from usual and that he was unsure how it would react. He added that they hope to get a good score on the board, and that they have confidence in their bowling.

South Africa’s playing XI is as follows: 1 Ryan Rickelton, 2 Tony de Zorzi, 3 Temba Bavuma (C), 4 Rassie van der Dussen, 5 Aiden Markram, 6 David Miller, 7 Wiaan Mulder, 8 Marco Jansen, 9 Keshav Maharaj, 10 Kagiso Rabada, 11 Lungi Ngidi.

Heinrich Klaasen was ruled out due to left elbow soft tissue injury.

Afghanistan skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi said that they too would have chosen to bat first. He added that the team will look to get wickets early and restrict South Africa. Shahidi also said that Afghanistan have played quality cricket against South Africa before in Sharjah.

Shahidi was referring to the three match ODI series the two teams played in back in September of 2024. Afghanistan won that series 2-1.

Afghanistan’s playing XI is as follows: 1 Rahmanullah Gurbaz, 2 Ibrahim Zardan, 3 Sediqullah Atal, 4 Rahmat Shah, 5 Hashmatullah Shahidi (C), 6 Azmatullah Omarzai, 7 Gulbadin Naib, 8 Mohammad Nabi, 9 Rashid Khan, 10 Noor Ahmad, 11 Fazalhaq Farooqi.