South Africa would be keen to dismiss Carey early in the marquee contest.
| Photo Credit: AP
Temba Bavuma is bullish about South Africa’s chances in the Champions Trophy despite the team sweating over Heinrich Klaasen’s fitness ahead of Tuesday’s marquee fixture against Australia.
Having missed out on the tournament opener last week with an elbow injury, Klaasen’s fitness is still being assessed by the medical team. While he has slowly resumed batting in the nets, it is unlikely that he will be available for the game against the World Champion side at the Rawalpindi Stadium.
Both teams enter the game on the back of convincing wins. Australia would expect Jos Inglis, the hero of the record chase against England, to continue in the same vein while South Africa would look to Ryan Rickelton, the century-maker against Afghanistan, to fire again.
The young Rickelton smashed a century and took the gloves against Afghanistan in the opening game, and in a must-win game,
The Proteas would rely on their star-studded batting line-up featuring Aiden Markram, captain Bavuma and David Miller. Bavuma felt that this could be another high-scoring game.
However, with the competition intensifying, it will be a challenge for the South African batters to ensure that they don’t lose their way in the middle overs and keep the momentum going against a high-flying Australian side.
After chasing down a mammoth total (351) on a flat deck in Lahore, the Aussie batters would be hoping to do well on the Rawalpindi surface which is also expected to be a batting beauty. The onus will be on the top-order to perform better than it did against England.
In the previous game, Australia left out Sean Abbott and brought in Ben Dwarshuis, who made inroads with the new ball.
Match starts at 2.30 p.m. IST.
Published – February 25, 2025 12:04 am IST