In reply to South Africa’s 299 runs in stipulated 50 overs, Sri Lanka was bowled out for 203 runs, leading to ICC-top-ranked’s first victory in the tournament.

Rest of the Story was posted prior to the beginning of ICC Champions Trophy 2017 group B match between South Africa and Sri Lanka at The Oval on June 3, 2017

The top team in ICC ODI rankings and inarguably the favorites South Africa will take on Sri Lanka in ICC Champions Trophy 2017 group B match, set to underway at The Oval on Saturday.

Recently South Africa have completely been dominant over Sri Lanka as the former thrashed the latter in a five-match series 5-0 in January-February 2017. The dominance is further indicated by the fact that in last nine One Day Internationals (ODIs) between the two teams, South Africa bagged victories in eight matches.

However with regard to ICC Champions Trophy, Sri Lanka was victorious when it met South Africa last time in the said tournament at Centurion in 2009.

Not only against Sri Lanka, South African recent record against all top teams in ICC rankings has been remarkable.

Since 2015 ICC World Cup, South Africa has won 24 ODIs against top eight teams while it has suffered defeats in only 12 matches. Its winning percentage has been 64.86 percent.

Whereas its opponent Sri Lanka is still struggling to find its way as since last World Cup, it managed to win only 5 ODIs and lost 19 games, registering a minor 17.86 winning percentage.

Not only South Africa is currently enjoying top position in ICC ODIs rankings but its four batsmen are in top 10 whereas two top bowlers in ICC rankings Kagiso Rabada and Imran Tahir also belong to South Africa.

South Africa squad for ICC Champions trophy 2017#CT17 #PTVSportsCT17 pic.twitter.com/P3R1b43EmM

— PTV Sports (@PTVSp0rts) June 3, 2017

Earlier on Friday as also telecast by PTV sports, Australia survived a lucky escape when rain interrupted its match against New Zealand at Edgbaston Cricket Ground in Birmingham.

The number of overs for each team was reduced multiple times because of rain. In the end, Australia required 235 runs in 33 overs against New Zealand but as the former had scored 53 runs for 3 in 9 overs, rain once again arrived and eventually, the match was abandoned.

Both the teams were awarded one point each.

Moreover you can have a look on the recent matches play between Bangladesh and England, streamed by PTV Sports