South Africa unbothered by Afghanistan in Champions Trophy opener

South Africa beat Afghanistan in their Champions Trophy opener in Karachi on Friday, winning by 107 runs thanks to a Ryan Rickelton century.

Cricket bookmakers had South Africa as heavy favourites heading into the fixture, with Marantelli Bet pricing the world No.5’s at -250 to win the match.

Live cricket betting odds swung even further in their favour when Rickelton (103) and Temba Bavuma (58) took the Proteas through to 157/1 after Tony de Zorzi (11) fell early.

Rassie van der Dussen (52) and Aiden Markram (52*) made healthy contributions too, ensuring that South Africa compiled an imposing 315/6 from their 50 overs.

In response, Afghanistan never really got going, losing their first four wickets for just 50 runs.

While Rahmat Shah (90) made a valiant stand, no other batsmen passed the 20-run mark.

Quicks Kagiso Rabada (3/36), Wiaan Mulder (2/36) and Lungi Ngidi (2/56) were the primary troublemakers for the Afghani batsmen, taking seven wickets between them to fold the world No.8s for 208 runs from 43.3 overs.

“Clinical performance,” South African captain Bavuma said after the match.

“We got the rub of the green with the toss but it was a brave decision to bat first not knowing how it would play.

“We took care of that, got a competitive score and then were clinical with the ball.

“All in all, close to our best performance.

“We’ll enjoy the win but then start gearing up for what we need to do against Australia.”

Afghani captain Hasmatullah Shahidi – who had been confident of his side’s chances heading into the match – was disappointed in how the team performed.

“I think the batting was not good enough today,” he said.

“My expectations was to play well, we have achieved a lot coming to this tournament.

“We have the ability to fight but we didn’t play the way we wanted.

“We have two games so we will forget what happened today and look forward.

“We will move forward and inshallah play quality cricket in the next two games.”

Marantelli Bet has shortened South Africa’s odds of winning the Champions Trophy to $6.50 following the victory, putting them on the fourth line of betting behind India (+125), Australia (+450) and New Zealand (+450).

Next up, they face Australia on Tuesday, while Afghanistan square off against England on Wednesday.

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