By Razeen Gutta
The Proteas are gearing up for three one-day internationals against Afghanistan and they are definitely not taking it lightly.
After a stellar ICC T20 World Cup display earlier this year, Afghanistan will look to cause an upset when they take centre stage against South Africa in the 50-over format in Sharjah this Wednesday.
With the 2027 home World Cup getting closer for the Proteas, coach Rob Walter will already be looking at his one day squad depth, with a rather new-look side being selected for the tour.
Ace pacer Lungi Ngidi acknowledged Afghanistan’s “world class” potential ahead of the opener.
“We’ve seen what they can do against other international teams, so I don’t think anyone is taking this series lightly,” Ngidi said.
“They’ve got world-class cricketers and match winners, and on their day they can beat the best in the world. We’ve seen it happen, so I don’t think anyone should be looking at them as minnows. We definitely know what we’re in for.”
Ngidi added that he believes the best way to get the upper hand against them would be to go all out against their top order batters.
“They seem to be very aggressive up front. That’s probably their biggest foundation, and then they’ll have the other players chip in within the middle and lower orders,” Ngidi said.
“I think we’ve also seen that their lower order can score some crucial runs, and I think the biggest thing for us is going to be to control the top end of their batting line-up.”
The action gets underway from 2pm on Wednesday while the second and third ODIs kick off at the same time on Friday and Sunday respectively.
Pictured above: Lungi Ngidi.
Source: @proteasmencsa
