(ESPNcricinfo)- South Africa’s first T20 World Cup match since the heartbreak of the 2024 final proved a substantially less fraught affair. In the echoing environs of the Narendra Modi Stadium, they were made to work just hard enough by Canada in the first meeting between the two nations, eventually easing to a 57-run victory thanks to Aiden Markram’s 28-ball fifty, and 4 for 31 from Lungi Ngidi.
Canada fought hard in patches, principally through Ansh Patel’s three wickets of wristspin, then a feisty half-century from Navneet Dhaliwal, whose 64 from 49 was the highest score of the match. Most of his runs came in a fifth-wicket stand of 69 with Harsh Thaker that cracked along at eight an over even as the rate continued to rise. By then, however, Ngidi had claimed three of his wickets in the powerplay to wreck any realistic hopes of an upset.
With its mix of red and black soil, Ahmedabad’s pitches can veer between extremes. But this offering, hard and lightly grassed, could hardly have been better suited to South Africa’s route-one methods.
Markram set the tone from the top of the order with a dominant 59 from 32 balls, Ryan Rickelton chipped in with 33 from 21, before Tristan Stubbs and David Miller brought up the rear in unbeaten knocks of 34 from 19 and 39 from 23 respectively.
Though no-one turned up for a statement display, none was really needed against enthusiastic but outclassed opponents whose fielding – despite one moment of individual brilliance – was consistently sub-par, and whose bowlers served up 13 extra deliveries across their innings, including nine wides and back-to-back no-balls on height in Kaleem Sana’s final over.
Pace and bounce, and a hint of seam movement. Ngidi doesn’t need a second invitation to thrive in such conditions. With a hefty target of 214 on the board, he landed the first ball of Canada’s reply right in the channel and found a thin snick off the edge of Dilpreet Bajwa’s bat, even as he tried to leave it alone.
In Ngidi’s next over, the left-hander Yuvraj Samra was done in by one that left him a fraction, for Quinton de Kock to claim his second catch of the powerplay. And though Nicholas Kirton smashed his second ball through the covers for four, he then spliced his third to Kagiso Rabada at mid-on. Ngidi had 3 for 13 in two overs, and Canada’s challenge was faltering before it had begun.
Rabada then beat Shreyas Movva for pace to leave them teetering at 45 for 4, but with the dew factor kicking in – as Canada’s captain Bajwa had anticipated at the toss – further breakthroughs were put on hold as Dhaliwal and Thaker exploited the extra zip onto the bat, and across the outfield. But when Ngidi returned for his final over, Thaker failed to pick his looping slower ball, and Rabada at deep third clung on to the leading edge.
If South Africa felt at home from home in these conditions, then Patel was literally so. Born in nearby Vadodara, he had moved to Toronto as a baby, but returned to Gujarat at the age of 10, when his father took a punt on his burgeoning cricket talent. A contract with Punjab Kings ensued in 2022, but a change in eligibility rules forced him home again, and into the midst of Canada’s return to the big-time.
Ansh’s first act of his home-from-homecoming didn’t quite go to plan, when he spilled de Kock at short third on 6. De Kock, however, didn’t quite make Canada pay. He had been ominously placed on 25 from 22 when he played over the top of a looping delivery from Bajwa, and lost his off stump.
That was the cue for Ansh to enter the attack. With his energetic, low-slung, left-arm wristspin, he provided the handbrake that Canada needed as he whirred through his repertoire to claim 3 for 31, all between overs eight and 16.
He needed a moment of inspiration to ignite his display. Markram had been in ominous touch with 10 fours and a six, as he peppered the arc from cover to mid-on with his favoured range of drives. But, when he dragged Ansh’s googly a touch too straight, Dilon Heyliger was lurking at long-on with a sensational interception: a leaping, reaching take on the run to his left, capped with cool footwork as he kept his balance inches inside the rope.
Rickelton was also done in while attempting a launch down the ground, a far more straightforward catch to Thaker at long-on, and Ansh made it three in nine balls when Dewald Brevis was deceived in flight to hoist a steepler to mid-off for a run-a-ball 6.
From 126 for 1 to 138 for 4, it was the start of a fightback … but only from South Africa’s impressively stacked middle order. Though Heinrich Klaasen remains much missed since retiring from internationals, Stubbs and Miller are no mean combo for the death overs. Five sixes between them from the final 14 balls put the contest out of reach.
South Africa 213 for 4 (Markram 59, Miller 39*, Ansh 3-31) beat Canada 156 for 8 (Dhaliwal 64, Ngidi 4-31) by 57 runs
