Former India player Aakash Chopra is eager to watch the 2025 Champions Trophy match between Afghanistan and South Africa. He stated that the winner of the game will qualify for the semi-finals as well. However, Afghanistan and South Africa will take on each other in the first Group B game of the 2025 Champions Trophy in Karachi on Friday, February 21 as well.
In a video shared on his YouTube channel ‘Aakash Chopra’, he said, “Afghanistan vs South Africa, humdinger, what a game. I felt both these teams were worthy of reaching the semi-finals. I didn’t think Australia and England have that much might. However, now I am thinking how Afghanistan would bowl spin. Allah Ghazanfar is not there,” he said.
ALSO READ: “Aap Lucknow ke naye nawab hain” – Aakash Chopra on Rishabh Pant’s appointment as LSG captain
“This is a very critical match. In my opinion, whoever wins this match will qualify for sure because I have slightly fewer expectations from England and Australia. I will stand corrected if things don’t happen like that. So I am quite intrigued. We should attentively watch this match as we will see quality cricket from both sides,” he again shared.
Meanwhile, Aakash Chopra expressed eagerness to see how Afghanistan manage their spinners and death-over bowling against South Africa.
“We will have to see how many overs of spin they bowl and whether the pitch is too flat for their spin to work. That is the one big question as otherwise, the way they bowl, spin would trap them. Can death bowling trouble them because they won’t be able to manage the death overs between Azmatullah Omarzai and Fazalhaq Farooqi? So I am very eager to see that,” he said.
“I am also eager to see how South Africa bat, right from the top. So a big question will be the Afghani spin against the South African batting. The second big theme is that South Africa’s bowling is slightly depleted. Afghanistan’s question is how they would bat. So both teams’ weak areas will come in front of each other. So it will be worth watching who wins that contest,” Aakash Chopra concluded.
