Toss South Africa chose to bat against Afghanistan

Bavuma's absence made the choice at the top of the order straightforward, with Tony de Zorzi and Reeza Hendricks opening the batting and Markram in at No.3. They have an inexperienced middle order in Tristan Stubbs, Kyle Verreynne and debutant Jason Smith followed by two seam-bowling allrounders. Left-arm spinner Bjorn Fortuin was preferred over legspinner Nqaba Peter in the opening encounter, with South Africa including four seam bowling options in their team.

None of the South African players have played an ODI in Sharjah before but they won't be too concerned with the unfamiliarity of the conditions. The Sharjah surface was relaid a year ago and although it is dry, it is not expected to be as slow as in the past.

Afghanistan: 1 Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), 2 Riaz Hassan, 3 Rahmat Shah, 4 Hashmatullah Shahidi (capt), 5 Mohammed Nabi, 6 Azmatullah Omarzai, 7 Gulbadin Naib, 8 Rashid Khan, 9 AM Ghazanfar, 10 Fazalhaq Farooqi 11 Nangeyalia Kharote

South Africa: 1 Tony de Zorzi, 2 Reeza Hendricks, 3 Aiden Markram (capt), 4 Tristan Stubbs, 5 Kyle Verreynne (wk), 6 Jason Smith, 7 Wiaan Mulder, 8 Andile Phehlukwayo, 9 Bjorn Fortuin, 10 Nandre Burger, 11 Lungi Ngidi