ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 | Match 9: Canada vs South Africa | Preview and Predictions

Finalists of the last T20 Men’s World Cup South Africa start their journey for their first-ever T20 title against Canada at Ahmedabad as the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 gets into full swing.

Here, we present our preview and predictions for the game.

ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 | Match 9: CAN vs SA | 19:00, February 9, 2026

After falling short at the final hurdle last time around, Aiden Markram and his boys will be looking to go the full distance as they kick off their T20 World Cup 2026 campaign against Canada. The Proteas are one of the tournament favourites and are heavy favourites in this encounter as well. South Africa not only have an explosive batting unit but also one with tons of experience with the likes of Quinton de Kock, Aiden Markram and David Miller, who have a host of World Cups under their belt. The young firepower of Tristan Stubbs, Dewald Brevis provide exciting firepower as the Proteas look like they have all bases covered. The bowling will be led by the duo of Kagiso Rabada and Lungi Ngidi with ample supporting acts present in Anrich Nortje, Marco Jansen and Corbin Bosch. In spin-friendly conditions, Keshav Maharaj will be key for South Africa, as will be George Linde. 

Canada meanwhile have had a disappointing warm-up campaign, having lost both their games, to Italy and Nepal respectively and will be looking to turn things around in the officials. The batting has been an issue for Canada, with the likes of Yuvraj Samra, Navneet Dhaliwal, Kanwarpal Tathgur and Nicholas Kirton all getting starts in both warm-up games but failing to convert them into meaningful scores. The lower middle order has provided little to no support with the bat in the warm-up games and that is an area Canada will be looking to fix, especially against strong bowling lineups in the World Cup. 

With the ball, while they haven’t been amongst the wickets, the Canadian unit has been economical, which has been a positive. The slower bowlers like Dilpreet Bajwa, Saad Bin Zafar and Jaskaran Singh have kept it tight but they know without wickets, it will be tough against the bigger teams. 

The Ahmedabad ground is known as a high-scoring, flat strip which  will give something to the seamers early on before becoming a good pitch to bat on. The dew might play a factor later on but South Africa are the clear favourites in this encounter to start their campaign with a win.

Fantasy XI: Quinton de Kock (c+wk), Yuvraj Samra, Dilpreet Bajwa,  Aiden Markram, Navneet Dhaliwal, Tristan Stubbs, David Miller, Kagiso Rabada (vc), Keshav Maharaj, Dilon Heyliger, Saad Bin Zafar

Venue: Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad

Winners Prediction: South Africa