Aiden Markram scored 50 off 28 balls and Lungi Ngidi took 4-31 as South Africa beat Canada by 57 runs of their ICC T20 World Cup 2026 opener at Ahmedabad’s Narendra Modi Stadium.
Navneet Dhaliwal hit 64 off 49 deliveries for the underdogs, who misplaced 4 wickets of their first six overs of the Group D contest after 2024 finalists South Africa posted 2013-4.
The victors are on two factors alongside New Zealand, who beat Afghanistan by 5 wickets in Chennai on Sunday.
South Africa vs Canada: ICC T20 World Cup 2026
Having misplaced the decider on the final version by seven runs to India, South Africa are anticipated to be among the many contenders to depose the reigning champions and have a squad that includes 9 of the 15 gamers from that marketing campaign.
Of their second look on the event, Canada – with new captain Dilpreet Bajwa – had misplaced warm-up video games to Italy and Nepal however carried out creditably towards an unfamiliar degree of tempo, Dhaliwal forming a fifth-wicket partnership of 69 with Harsh Thaker.
David Miller, whose health had been doubtful till final week due to an adductor muscle pressure, additionally scored an unbeaten 39 for South Africa.
Lungi Ngidi: South Africa ‘trial and error’ vs Canada
Participant of the Match Ngidi mentioned the Proteas had “struggled” with a recreation plan towards “guys who you haven’t seen a lot of”.
“It was trial and error as we have been going,” admitted the 29-year-old. “A number of the balls have been going for boundaries, after which we’d shift and have a chat within the center and check out one thing completely different.
“We knew our assault brings tempo however the variations are at all times those that catch individuals out. I attempt to do what I do finest: maintain it easy, good size after which maintain altering up the tempo to maintain guys guessing.
“I’ve to discover a option to take wickets and I’m prepared to take dangers. That’s the way in which I play the T20 recreation.”
South Africa vs Canada groups
South Africa XI: Aiden Markram (c), Quinton de Kock (wk), Ryan Rickelton, Dewald Brevis, David Miller, Tristan Stubbs, Marco Jansen, Corbin Bosch, Kagiso Rabada, Keshav Maharaj, and Lungi Ngidi
Canada XI: Yuvraj Samra, Dilpreet Bajwa (c), Navneet Dhaliwal, Nicholas Kirton, Shreyas Movva (wk), Harsh Thaker, Saad Bin Zafar, Jaskarandeep Singh, Dilon Heyliger, Kaleem Sana, and Ansh Patel
South Africa, Canada T20 cricket World Cup fixtures
South Africa are next in action towards Afghanistan at Ahmedabad’s Narendra Modi Stadium on Wednesday (05:30 GMT).
They then face New Zealand in the identical setting on Saturday (13:30).
Canada tackle the UAE on the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi on Friday (09:30). They then meet New Zealand at Chennai’s MA Chidambaram Stadium on Tuesday (05:30).
South Africa ICC T20 World Cup 2026 squad
Aiden Markram (c), Corbin Bosch, Dewald Brevis, Quinton de Kock, Marco Jansen, George Linde, Keshav Maharaj, Kwena Maphaka, David Miller, Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortje, Kagiso Rabada, Ryan Rickelton, Jason Smith, Tristan Stubbs
Canada ICC T20 World Cup 2026 squad
Dilpreet Bajwa (c), Ajayveer Hundal, Ansh Patel, Dilon Heyliger, Harsh Thaker, Jaskarandeep Singh, Kaleem Sana, Kanwarpal Tathgur, Navneet Dhaliwal, Nicholas Kirton, Ravinderpal Singh, Saad Bin Zafar, Shivam Sharma, Shreyas Movva, Yuvraj Samra
