SA vs CAN: Canada Opt To Bowl First After Winning The Toss

SA vs CAN: South Africa will be playing their first match in the T20 World Cup since the heartbreaking loss against India in the final

South Africa will open their 2026 T20 World Cup campaign against Canada at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. Both teams will eye a win in the SA vs CAN game to start the tournament on a positive note and grab crucial points early in the competition.

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Although South Africa will start the game in question as favourites, given the resources that the Proteas have at their disposal in the batting as well as the bowling department, one cannot count Canada out, as they also have enough power to give the runners-up of the last edition a run for their money.

SA vs CAN: What Did The Captains Say

Canadian captain Dilpreet Bajwa, upon winning the toss and choosing to bowl first, said that the pitch looks good for batting, and the reason why he decided to bowl first is because of the dew that might play its part in the second innings of the game. Talking about the preparation, Bajwa said that although they haven’t played a lot of cricket in Canada but had good preparation in Sri Lanka before the start of the tournament.

Aiden Markram, the opposition captain, on the other hand, also reiterated the same thing about the wicket being good for batting and added that people can say whatever they want about the quality of surfaces in white-ball cricket, but they are not bad at all. Markra also admitted that playing a number of matches in Asian conditions in the recent past will be of great help for them.

The South African captain was optimistic about his team’s chances of making it to the final but was also quick to acknowledge that they will have to take it one match at a time and focus on making it to the Super Eight first.

SA vs CAN: The Combination

Canada: Yuvraj Samra, Dilpreet Bajwa (c), Navneet Dhaliwal, Nicholas Kirton, Shreyas Movva (wk), Harsh Thaker, Saad Bin Zafar, Jaskaran Singh, Dilon Heyliger, Kaleem Sana, Ansh Patel

South Africa: Aiden Markram (c), Quinton de Kock (wk), Ryan Rickelton, Dewald Brevis, David Miller, Tristan Stubbs, Marco Jansen, Corbin Bosch, Kagiso Rabada, Keshav Maharaj, Lungi Ngidi

SA vs CAN: Pitch Report

As far as the pitch for the SA vs CAN game at Narendra Modi Stadium is concerned, it is expected to be good for batting, meaning that we can be in for a run-scoring fest, which the surface is known for. South Africa will have to score at least 200-210 runs to stay ahead in the game, with dew predicted to affect the game in the second innings, making it difficult to grip the ball.