🏏ICC Champions Trophy 2025: Aus vs SA, Match 7, Group B🏏 - Page 3

Cutie David Miller aaj kuch runs banao (if your batting comes)

Today we r not even sure of the winning team. So difficult to predict.

Thanks for the tag 💙.

Thanks for the tag and thread, Raji!❤️

Tough predictions this time…all the best to both teams!✌🏼✌🏼

Thank you, Raji, for the thread and for tagging me.

Best wishes to both the teams, but we want to watch an interesting match!

Matches between Australia and South Africa are rarely dull and it could be the same today. South Africa started their tournament off with a 107-run win over Afghanistan, getting a score of 315/6. Australia, on the other hand, started their campaign by completing their highest-ever succesful run chase and making it look easy.

Both sides thus put behind them the shaky form they were in leading up to this tournament. They were also hurt by injuries to key pacers, although South Africa were slightly better off in that department. They may be without Anrich Nortje and Gerald Coetzee but their spearhead Kagiso Rabada is firing on all cylinders. Australia, on the other hand, are without Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc.

However, anybody who saw what the world champions did to England at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore would tell you that they have not left their big tournament pedigree at home. Moreover, Rawalpindi is expected to provide a batting-friendly pitch once again, which means that it could be yet another high-scoring thriller for Australia to deal with. South Africa captain Temba Bavuma made it clear that no team from Down Under can be taken lightly in a big tournament and the Proteas are not going to make that mistake either.

"I mean, any Australian outfit that comes together for an ICC event is always one that you don't take lightly. Yes, they don't have, I guess, their mainstay bowling attack, but I think they still have enough to be successful as a team, like you mentioned with their batting. Maybe it could be a case of their batters maybe doing a little bit more than what they're accustomed to," Bavuma said in the pre-match press conference.

South Africa eyeing Australia's weakened bowling attack---

Bavuma said that while the Proteas are not taking the Aussies lightly by any stretch of the imagination, they know that the latters' bowling is their weak point. "So I think, like with any team, there are opportunities, and like you rightfully said, probably within the bowling, there's opportunities, and I think if that presents itself on the day, we'll definitely be looking to make use of that opportunity. But in saying that, we definitely won't be taking them lightly," he added.

Heinrich Klaasen's fitness status

Australia vs South Africa Live Score, ICC Champions Trophy 2025: Klaasen missed South Africa's opening game against Afghanistan because of an elbow problem. Captain Bavuma said that South Africa are playing it by the ear with regards to whether he can play today or not. "We still have to assess his fitness, he will practice today and then the medical team will make a decision accordingly," Bavuma told reporters on Monday.

Just the first time these two sides are facing in this tournament

Australia vs South Africa Live Score, ICC Champions Trophy 2025: There are few more storied rivalries in cricket, regardless of formats, than Australia vs South Africa. And yet, this is just the first time that the two sides are facing each other in the Champions Trophy.

South Africa

The elbow problem that kept Heinrich Klaasen out of the side who beat Afghanistan has not been resolved. He might have to sit out again.

Probable XI: Ryan Rickelton (wk), Tony de Zorzi, Temba Bavuma (capt), Rassie van der Dussen, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Marco Jansen, Wiaan Mulder, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi