South Africa vs Canada, 9th Match, Group D, ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2026 - Commentary

Easy win for South Africa and no surprises in any of the three games today. Fancied sides winning easily. Tomorrow we have a triple-header coming up again. We will be there nice and early for that. Do catch up then. Time to bounce now. Bye bye.

Aiden Markram | South Africa captain: "Yeah, it is important I think. We've seen how the start of this comp, anyone can beat anyone and you don't take any opposition lightly. So, nice start from the boys. I thought all three areas of the game we were pretty solid tonight and obviously happy with the win. (on picking the XI) It'll always be conditions-based, but it doesn't make it easier. Each guy's been pushing really hard to be a part of that XI on the park, but everyone's locked in. They understand it's going to be a squad effort throughout this World Cup and not easy telling guys they're not playing, but yeah, they still understand. They receive it well and give a lot of energy back into the group after that. (on their finishing with the bat) Big time, yeah. It's a really important phase of the game here in India and they had to do a little bit of gardening there for us before they could tee off. And I thought they did that really well and then finished really well as well. So, great for them, the confidence to have done it then and yeah, hopefully they can take that confidence and a bit of momentum into the next one. (on their pacers) Yeah, they bowled really well. Obviously, there was a little bit on offer up front and then dew sort of came in a bit and it got a bit better. But yeah, they still asked some really good questions, still trying to take wickets throughout the innings, which is obviously important and got a drive more often than not. So, like I mentioned, a pretty good performance as a whole tonight. There'll obviously be a couple of questions we ask each other in the changeroom as to where we can get better, but yeah, all in all pretty happy with it. (big clash against Afghanistan next) No, 100%. Semi-finalists in the last edition, day game as well. So, we'll have to be on it in a couple of days' time. So, get some rest tomorrow and then bright and early, I think we are here on Wednesday and looking forward to that game."

Dilpreet Bajwa | Canada captain: "Yeah, we were expecting 170-175. The wicket was so good and we were playing against South Africa, good batting lineup. But yeah, we leaked some extra runs and loose balls and that cost us extra runs. (on Ansh Patel) Yeah, he bowled really well, I think, against these batsmen, very experienced and very well-played batsmen. I think that's his home ground and his family was here. He was pumped up and I think he did so well and he helped Canada to stop South Africa for a big score. (on Dhaliwal) I think his experience works there because he’s been playing for Canada 10 years and he’s one of the experienced players. But yeah, we’re not playing much competitive cricket against big teams, and that we’re lacking as Associate. Still, I think in Associate we’re doing good. We were expecting a big loss, but we think comeback very good and we are proud. I think so many positive signs looking forward against upcoming match. But still, I think it’s the best bowling in world - all the bowlers are 140-plus I think. Our boys played really well, especially Navneet Dhaliwal. (big game against UAE next) Our batting, I think we went so aggressive in the circle. We lost some extra wickets in the circle as well. I think that cost us too. So we need to play properly and we need to watch ball more clear. I think that's going to help us against UAE."

Most dismissals as WK in the T20 WCs
32 - Quionton de Kock*
32 - MS Dhoni
30 - Kamran Akmal
27 - Dinesh Ramdin
26 - K Sangakkara
26 - Jos Buttler

50-plus scores for Canada in T20 WCs
64 - Navneet Dhaliwal vs SA, Ahmedabad, 2026*
61 - Navneet Dhaliwal vs USA, Dallas, 2024
52 - Aaron Johnson vs PAK, New York, 2024
51 - Nicholas Kirton vs USA, Dallas, 2024

Biggest win for SA in T20 WCs (by runs)
130 vs SCO, The Oval, 2009
104 vs BAN, Sydney, 2022
59 vs AFG, Bridgetown, 2010
57 vs CAN, Ahmedabad, 2026*

SA seamers by length today
Full (Less than 6m): 5/40, 36 balls, ER: 6.66
Good (6-8m): 1/29, 26 balls, ER: 6.69
Short (More than 8m): 2/43, 34 balls, ER: 7.58

Lungi Ngidi | Player of the Match: (what brings out the best in him in this format?) "I think it’s the fact that I have to find a way to take wickets. I’m willing to take those risks. Sometimes they go for boundaries, but bowling those risky balls sometimes pay off and they end up in the wickets column. So that’s pretty much the way I play the T20 game, and I’m just looking to keep doing more of the same. (playing against a new opposition) That's actually one of the things that we struggled with tonight. It’s the gameplans for guys that you haven’t seen much of. So it was trial and error as we were going, and I think as you could see, some of the balls would go for boundaries and then we kind of shift and we have a chat in the middle and then try something different. In the end, up front it was pretty simple with the new ball, but once the game got further on, it was pretty much trial and error all the way to the end. (dew's impact) It did have a bit of an impact. You could see once you bowled a touch fuller, it would sort of just slide on. The slower balls were still holding up a little bit, but yeah, the ball did seem to be sliding on a bit better and they connected a few pretty well, which kind of let us know that, okay, it is playing a bit of an effect. (on the bowling unit) We knew that obviously our attack brings pace, but for me, I feel like the variations are always the ones that catch people out. I try to do what I do best, keep it simple, good lengths, and then keep changing up the pace and keep guys guessing."

22:39 Local Time, 17:09 GMT, 22:39 IST: Good workout for South Africa. No real threat of an upset once they made 213. Canada lost Bajwa first ball of the innings and then slipped to 45/4. From there, a couple of attractive knocks from Navneet Dhaliwal and Harsh Thaker saw them play eye-catching shots. They hit the ball hard and found the boundaries. South Africa though were never in danger of losing as they went about their business clinically. Their catching was on the mark. And the bowlers hit the pitch hard. Ngidi the star with a four-fer. Stay tuned for the post-match stuff...

Corbin Bosch to Navneet Dhaliwal, THATS OUT!! Caught!!