Markram and Ngidi punish Canada as South Africa start off T20 World Cup with a win

Aiden Markram and Lungi Ngidi [Source: @ProteasMenCSA/x]

South Africa blanked Canada to start off their 2026 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup campaign with a comprehensive win. Captain Aiden Markram and comeback man David Miller scored the crucial runs upfront before fast bowler Lungi Ngidi scythed through Canada’s top-order.

Here, we take a look at the entire highlights from the ninth match of the ICC T20 World Cup 2026 between South Africa and Canada, as it panned out at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Monday, February 9.

Aiden Markram 59, Miller and Stubbs cameos take South Africa to 213

Batting first, South African openers Aiden Markram and Quinton de Kock raced to 70-0 inside the first seven overs of the match. Quinton chipped in with 25 runs from 22 balls in the partnership with two fours before getting knocked over by Canada off-spinner Dilpreet Bajwa.

Aiden Markram crafted another 56 runs for the second wicket with number three Ryan Rickelton, with the skipper bringing up his own half-century in the process. The cricketer top-scored in the innings through his enterprising knock of 59 runs from 32 balls with 10 boundaries and a six.

With South Africa comfortably reaching 126-1 around 11 overs, a triple-wicket burst from left-arm spinner Ansh Patel tilted the tide back in Canada’s favour. Patel removed both well-set batters, Markram and Rickelton (33 off 21) as well as dangerman Dewald Brevis in quick succession as the Proteas slipped to 138-4 in the space of just a couple of overs. The cricketer eventually finished his four-over quota with exceptional figures of 3-31.

Hard-hitting middle-order batters David Miller and Tristan Stubbs batted out the remaining six overs of the innings to share 75 unbeaten runs together for the fifth wicket. While Miller launched a boundary and three huge sixes in his burgeoning 23-ball 39*, Stubbs blasted 34* from 19 as South Africa mounted 213-4 in 20 overs.

Lungi Ngidi decimates Canada with four-fer

Lungi Ngidi dismantled Canada with the new ball, starting off by removing opening batter and rival skipper Dilpreet Bajwa for a first-ball duck. In his following over, the lanky Proteas speedster also dismissed fellow Canada opener Yuvraj Samra, and number four Nicholas Kirton in the space of just three deliveries.

Kagiso Rabada clean bowled Shreyas Movva for just nine from 11 balls in the sixth over as Canada reached a troublesome 50-4 at the end of the powerplay.

A brief 69-run partnership between Navneet Dhaliwal and Harsh Thaker pushed Canada past the 100-run mark, with the former top-scoring in the innings through his 49-ball 64. Thaker also made 33 off 29 with two fours and two sixes. His dismissal in the 15th over sparked yet another batting collapse, as Canada slipped from 114-4 to 156-8 by the end of their 20 overs.

Marco Jansen picked up two late wickets in the innings, while Lungi Ngidi unfurled the spell of the night with figures of 4-31 as South Africa won the match by 57 runs.

South Africa tops Group D points table

The win also helped South Africa top the Group D points table with a formidable NRR of 2.850. They will now face Afghanistan at the same venue on February 11.