The runners-up of the 2024 T20 World Cup edition registered an emphatic 57-run victory over Canada in the ninth match of Group D at the Narendra Modi Stadium, powered by a dominant batting display up front and a ruthless spell with the ball from Lungi Ngidi, who ensured there were no late nerves.
South Africa put together a great start thanks to Aiden Markham’s strong aggressive batting. His opening partnership with Quinton de Kock yielded an impressive 70 runs through excellent control of the match from the get-go. De Kock provided support and scored just 25 runs from 22 balls, whereas Markham was in sublime fashion beating his 50 as well as scoring 59 runs off 32 balls to give South Africa a strong advantage.
South Africa enjoyed a steady period during the middle overs with Dewald Brevis struggling to get into form and scoring only 6 runs. On the other side though, Ryan Rickelton helped keep the pressure on Canada with some great batting and scoring 33 runs off 21 balls. However, once South Africa got David Miller to the crease, the innings started taking a wicked turn towards Canada.
Miller had a very calm end to the innings with nice and steady hitting from both himself and Tristan Stubbs instead of big swings. Miller was not out at 39 runs and Stubbs made an impressive contribution of 34 runs which lead South Africa to finish with a good total of 213/4 after 20 overs. Canada's only notable accomplishment with the ball was through Ansh Patel who took out 3 wickets for 31 runs in his four overs, and Dilpreet Bajwa picked up the other one.
Despite Canada's struggles with the bat, Lungi Ngidi ensured they never found their stride in their run chase, striking with the first ball of the innings by bowling Dilpreet Bajwa for a duck, leaving Canada on the back foot immediately. A brief counter-attack featured Yuvraj Samra hitting three boundaries off Ngidi, however, the pace bowler returned to have the last laugh when he dismissed the Canadian batter. After the end of the Powerplay, Canada were in all sorts of trouble having lost both Nicholas Kirton and Shreyas Movva to Ngidi's bowling and the South African had taken three of the four wickets in that period.
In the middle overs, there was some resistance to go with Navneet Dhaliwal and Harsh Thaker adding a 69-run partnership for the fifth wicket, however, Canada were still behind the eight-ball on the required run rate, which at one stage exceeded 17 an over by the start of the 14th over, and they really never threatened to mount a comeback. Ngidi returned to the attack in his fourth over and dismissed Thaker for 33 runs, pretty much ending the contest.
Dhaliwal fought hard to finish with a half-century having scored 64 runs from 49 balls and was the top scorer for Canada; however, his dismissal in the last over was a true reflection of Canada's plight. They finished with a total of 156 runs with 8 wickets in 20 overs, and well short of the target.
Ngidi stood out as the best performer with the ball, finishing with figures of 4 wickets for 31 runs in his four overs. Marco Jansen supported him with two wickets, while Kagiso Rabada and Corbin Bosch contributed one each.
Brief scores: South Africa 213/4 in 20 overs (Aiden Markram 59, David Miller 39 not out; Ansh Patel 3-31, Dilpreet Bajwa1-40) beat Canada 156/8 in 20 overs (Navneet Dhaliwal 64, Harsh Thaker 33; Lungi Ngidi 4-31, Marco Jansen 2-30) by 57 runs
Picture Courtesy: IANS
