T20 World Cup: Can Canada challenge formidable South Africa?
What's the story
South Africa will take on Canada in their opening match of the T20 World Cup 2026 at Ahmedabad's Narendra Modi Stadium on Monday. The Proteas, who lost heartbreakingly in the final of the last edition, are favorites to win this match and start their campaign on a high note. However, Canada are not to be taken lightly as they have some power hitters in their squad. Here is the match preview.
Previous performance
South Africa aim to start campaign on high note
South Africa came close to winning their first T20 World Cup title in 2024, but fell short in the final. Nine of the 15 players from that squad are back for this edition, including captain Aiden Markram and wicketkeeper-batter Quinton de Kock. Despite a string of losses since July 2024, South Africa are coming off a series win against West Indies at home.
Team dynamics
Canada eye upset against Proteas
Team Canada is making its second appearance in the T20 World Cup, with a new captain Dilpreet Bajwa at the helm. They lost both their warm-up matches against Italy and Nepal, but have enough firepower to take on the best teams. The squad features experienced players like Saad Bin Zafar, Jaskaran Singh, and Navneet Dhaliwal as well as young talents such as Yuvraj Samra and Bajwa himself. They have never faced South Africa in a T20I match before.
Match details
Pitch report and other details
Ahmedabad's pitch is known for high-scoring games, with an average first-innings score of 189 in eight T20Is. The upcoming game is expected to provide a balanced contest between batters and bowlers. Batters will have to take their time before going for big runs later in the innings. One can watch the match live on the Star Sports Network and stream it on the JioHotstar app/website (7:00pm IST).
XIs
Here are the probable playing XIs
Canada (Probable XI): Navneet Dhaliwal, Yuvraj Samra, Kanwarpal Tathgur, Nicholas Kirton, Dilpreet Bajwa (c), Harsh Thaker, Shreyas Movva (wk), Ansh Patel, Jaskaran Singh, Shivam Sharma, Dilon Heyliger. South Africa (Probable XI): Aiden Markram (c), Quinton de Kock (wk), Ryan Rickelton, Dewald Brevis, David Miller, George Linde, Corbin Bosch, Marco Jansen, Kagiso Rabada, Keshav Maharaj, Anrich Nortje.
Performers
Here are the key performers
Anrich Nortje holds the record for most wickets taken by a South African player in T20 WC - 35 at 11.40. Across 27 games in the tournaments, David Miller has scored 423 runs at a decent average of 30.21. Navneet Dhaliwal has scored the most T20I runs for the Canada team - 1,197 at 32.35. Dilon Heyliger has taken 54 wickets for them in the format at 22.44.
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