South Africa Playing 11 vs Afghanistan – ICC World Cup 2023, Match 42

South Africa takes on Afghanistan in match 42 of the ICC World Cup 2023 on November 10 Friday. The Proteas and India have already qualified for the playoffs along with Australia after their win over Afghanistan. Afghanistan, on the other hand, needs to win this match to stay alive in the semi-final race. A loss knocks them out of the tournament.

South Africa have pretty much the second-best team in the tournament until their loss to India in the last game. The Proteas who dominated the other teams were tamed by India. They were bowled out for 83 chasing 327 to win.

Against Afghanistan, who have been the giant killers of the tournament so far they have to play with caution. Chasing has been their Achilles heel in this tournament so far. They lost both the games chasing and their opponents have been good at setting scores batting first.

It will be a nice battle between the Afghanistan spinners and the Protean batters especially their top order which has been in blistering form barring the India game.

The table toppers would quickly like to forget their performance against India and get back to their dominating best against the Afghans. They only played one ODI game against the opponents which was in the 2019 World Cup which they won.

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South Africa can play the same side that they played against India also against Afghanistan. Given the kind of players they selected it looked their best XI heading into the World Cup semi-finals. Their batters just need to bat better and their bowlers bowl better.

South Africa Playing 11 vs Afghanistan – ICC World Cup 2023, Match 42

Quinton de Kock (WK)

De Kock will continue to open the batting for South Africa. He is the top-scorer of the tournament so far with 550 runs from 8 games including four centuries but scored just five against India. He would be eyeing his fifth ton in this World Cup against Afghanistan.

Temba Bavuma (C)

Bavuma will open the batting with De Kock. His role at the top is to give his team quick starts but he has not done that job consistently. So far in this WC, he has scored 122 runs from six games at an average of 20.33.

Rassie van der Dussen

Dussen will bat at three. He too is amongst the top-scorers in this World Cup with 366 runs from 8 games at an average of nearly 50. Against India, he scored just 13 off 32 balls.

Aiden Markram

Aiden Markram will slot in at four. He led South Africa in a couple of games in the absence of Temba Bavuma. He scored 9 off 6 balls against Afghanistan. Markram is inching closer to 400 runs in this tournament.

David Miller

Miller will bat at five. Despite his experience of playing in Indian competitions, he scored just 11 against India. He has scored 231 runs in the tournament and nearing 700 runs in his World Cup career.

Heinrich Klaasen

Klaasen will slot in at six. He has scored 316 runs in 8 games at an average of 45.14 and a strike rate close to 150. He has hit 17 sixes in the tournament so far. Against India, he scored just 1.

Marco Jansen

Jansen will bat at seven. He has played a few handy cameos and has taken 17 wickets from 8 games. Against India, he was very expensive going for 94 runs in his spell at an economy close to 10.

Keshav Maharaj

The SA spinner bowled a spell of 1 for 30 against India getting the most turn out of all the spinners. He has taken 12 wickets in 8 games at an average of 26.75. He will bat at eight. Maharaj is one away from 50 ODI wickets.

Kagiso Rabada

Rabda will lead the SA pace attack. He picked up 1/48 against India and overall has picked up 12 wickets from seven games at an average of 23.58. The next match will be his 100th ODI.

Lungi Ngidi

Ngidi will pair up with Rabada from the other end. He has picked up seven wickets from 8 games and picked up 1 for 63 against India. The pacer has taken 86 wickets from 55 games.

Gerald Coetzee

Coetzee might return to the side in place of Shamsi with the match being played in Ahmedabad and the pitch supporting pace more than spin. He has taken 14 wickets in six games at an average of 21.79.

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