Champions Trophy 2025 Live: We have to bring our A-game, says Bavuma

South Africa captain Temba Bavuma acknowledged Afghanistan’s growing reputation and warned his team against complacency.

“They are a highly competitive team,” Bavuma said. “I think they’ve got a lot of experience within their team—guys who have that international pedigree at least from a skill point of view, and we have to bring out our A-game.”

The two teams last met in a three-match ODI series in Sharjah last year, where Afghanistan triumphed 2-1. Bavuma admitted Afghanistan would carry confidence from that victory into Friday’s match.

“They won that series, so they won’t be short of any type of confidence coming into the game tomorrow,” he said. “But in terms of preparations, we have ticked all the boxes.”

South Africa will be at full strength for the match, with key players such as Marco Jansen, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Kagiso Rabada, Ryan Rickelton, Tristan Stubbs, and Rassie van der Dussen returning after missing the recent tri-series in Pakistan.