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No Temba Bavuma; Markram To Lead As Jos Buttler's England Opt To Bat First In Karachi

Rajgeeta Yadav

England vs South Africa [Source: AP]England vs South Africa [Source: AP]

England and South Africa are facing off in their last group-stage match of the Champions Trophy 2025 at the National Stadium in Karachi on March 1. England are already out of the tournament, while South Africa is close to securing a spot in the semi-finals—unless they suffer a major collapse in this match. 

In a significant development, England have won the toss and opted to bat first against Proteas. Talking about the changes, South Africa have made two changes to their team, with regular captain Temba Bavuma, Tony de Zorzi out and Henrich Klaassen, Tristan Stubbs coming in. England also made one change, bringing in Saqib Mahmood to replace Mark Wood.

During the toss, England's captain Jos Buttler explained why they chose to bat first, saying,

"We are gonna bat first. It looks a good surface and we saw the game between South Africa and Afghanistan here and it looked a good surface to bat on.

It felt like it was the right time to step down from captaincy. So, didn't take much time to take the decision. Just got the clarity and have to move on and give the other guy to step in and get England to better heights. Looking forward to leading the side for one final time today."

On the other hand, South Africa's captain Aiden Markram was fine with chasing the target, saying,

"We are actually happy to chase. We haven't chased yet in this competition so it will be challenging against this quality English team. Looking forward to it. Yeah just two guys, we have got some illness going around for us. Tony de Zorzi and Temba are the two guys who are there in the team hotel. Unfortunately, we don't have them playing today. If we do qualify for the semis, hopefully we have them back in our side."

ENG vs SA: Playing XI's

England Playing XI : Ben Duckett, Philip Salt, Jamie Smith (wk), Joe Root, Harry Brook, Jos Buttler (c), Liam Livingstone, Jamie Overton, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid, Saqib Mahmood

South Africa Playing XI : Tristan Stubbs, Ryan Rickelton (wk), Rassie van der Dussen, Aiden Markram (c), Heinrich Klaasen, David Miller, Wiaan Mulder, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi