WATCH: Rabada fumes as Joe Root pulls out at last minute in CT 2025 clash

South African pacer Kagiso Rabada expressed his frustration after England batter Joe Root pulled out of his stance during their Champions Trophy 2025 game on Saturday.

The incident happened in the 14th over after England won the toss and elected to bat first at Karachi’s National Stadium.

Joe Root arrived at the crease after opening batter Phil Salt (8) and Jamie Smith (0) departed early in the inning.

The right-handed batter looked out of touch and seemed to have found it hard to focus on the proceedings of the game.

Joe Root was seen frequently stepping away from his stance due to issues with the sight screen.

However, the instance in the 14th over drew the ire of South African pacer Kagiso Rabada who looked visibly frustrated when the England batter pulled out of his batting stance at the last moment.

Rabada was seen expressing his concerns to the umpire, signaling that Joe Root’s actions were an obvious attempt to break his rhythm and waste time.

The experienced batter, however, could not perform for his side and was dismissed after scoring 37 runs off 44 balls in their final Champions Trophy 2025 game.

England were bowled out for 179 in 38.2 overs as Marco Jansen and Wiaan Mulder took three wickets each.

Spinner Keshav Maharaj picked up two wickets while Kagiso Rabada and Lungi Ngidi bagged one wicket each.

Pertinent to note here that South Africa have qualified for the semi-final after bowling out England for a below-par total in their third game of the ongoing Champions Trophy 2025.

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

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