🏏ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2026:M13: AFG vs SA, Ahmedabad 🏏 - Page 2

Head-to-head record between South Africa and Afghanistan

The head-to-head tally only solidifies the ‘performance gap’ between the countries, making the upcoming battle sound like a classic ‘David vs Goliath’ fixture. Afghanistan have faced South Africa three times in T20Is. On all three occasions, they were on the losing side.

Total Matches- 3

South Africa Wins- 3

Afghanistan Wins- 0

Last Meeting- 2024 T20 World Cup Semi-Final

They're only into their second game of the tournament, but Afghanistan are already entering into a must-win scenario. Having lost to New Zealand in the opening game, another loss today could leave them with too much to do, even if their last two games are against comparatively easier opposition in UAE and Canada. New Zealand have already set the marker in this so called 'Group of Death' with two convincing wins and South Africa coasted through to a comfiortable victory over Canada in their group opener 36 hours back. As such, today's morning game between Afghanistan and South Africa will go a long way in determining the two teams who'll go through to the Super Eights. We're back at the Narendra Modi stadium for this Group D encounter and if the SA-CAN match was a precursor of things to come, expecta high-scoring game. Dew did play a small role in the first match here, but it's a 11 am start and hence toss will not play a role. It's another hot and sunny day with the mwximum temperature expected to be around 31 degrees.

Thank you for the tag Soni

Good luck to both the teams

Ahmedabad is the home ground of the Gujarat Titans and there're players from both teams who have been part of the franchise. Rashid Khan and Noor Ahmad have spent time with the franchise and so have the South African pair of David Miller and Kagiso Rabada. With the know-how on the conditions and plenty rising on the result of this game, expect a corker of a contest. Afghanistan left out Noor Ahmad in the last match, but do expect him to feature in today's line-up. With this being a day game, will South Africa be tempted at playing an additional spinner? Toss and team sheets coming up shortly..

Afghanistan chose to field

Rashid Khan - We will bowl first. Fresh wicket and we're looking forward to chase. Against the big teams in the WC, it's a must-win game for us, we have to come and try to give the effort in the ground., don't worry about the result, but more importantly, the energy with which we play the game and I feel like that's what is more important. It's a home ground, I have played a lot for GT over the years in the IPL. I think this pitch will get better as the game goes on, that's the reason we're chasing. a couple of things we need to improve, like, you know, especially with the batting, we need to start with the powerplay. I feel like that's the area we need to improve. And with the bowling, I feel like in the middle overs, really, we need to bowl as tight as possible and as quick as possible. And I feel like in the last game, we just missed on line and length. One change, Ziaur Rahman misses out, Noor Ahmad is in.

Teams:

South Africa (Playing XI): Aiden Markram(c), Quinton de Kock(w), Ryan Rickelton, Dewald Brevis, David Miller, Tristan Stubbs, Marco Jansen, George Linde, Kagiso Rabada, Keshav Maharaj, Lungi Ngidi

Afghanistan (Playing XI): Rahmanullah Gurbaz(w), Ibrahim Zadran, Gulbadin Naib, Sediqullah Atal, Darwish Rasooli, Azmatullah Omarzai, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan(c), Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Noor Ahmad, Fazalhaq Farooqi

Aiden Markram - We would have bowled first as well, quite a bit of moisture, but not a bad thing to bat. We can get a good score on the board and squeeze a bit later and chase it as well. We had a good game against Canada and had a nice workaround. One change for us - we have one change, we're playing the extra spinner in George Linde, he replaces Corbin Bosch.

Rashid Khan - We will bowl first. Fresh wicket and we're looking forward to chase. Against the big teams in the WC, it's a must-win game for us, we have to come and try to give the effort in the ground., don't worry about the result, but more importantly, the energy with which we play the game and I feel like that's what is more important. It's a home ground, I have played a lot for GT over the years in the IPL. I think this pitch will get better as the game goes on, that's the reason we're chasing. a couple of things we need to improve, like, you know, especially with the batting, we need to start with the powerplay. I feel like that's the area we need to improve. And with the bowling, I feel like in the middle overs, really, we need to bowl as tight as possible and as quick as possible. And I feel like in the last game, we just missed on line and length. One change, Ziaur Rahman misses out, Noor Ahmad is in.

Afghanistan have won the toss and have opted to Field

Aiden Markram - We would have bowled first as well, quite a bit of moisture, but not a bad thing to bat. We can get a good score on the board and squeeze a bit later and chase it as well. We had a good game against Canada and had a nice workaround. One change for us - we're playing the extra spinner in George Linde, he replaces Corbin Bosch

Teams:

South Africa (Playing XI): Aiden Markram(c), Quinton de Kock(w), Ryan Rickelton, Dewald Brevis, David Miller, Tristan Stubbs, Marco Jansen, George Linde, Kagiso Rabada, Keshav Maharaj, Lungi Ngidi

Afghanistan (Playing XI): Rahmanullah Gurbaz(w), Ibrahim Zadran, Gulbadin Naib, Sediqullah Atal, Darwish Rasooli, Azmatullah Omarzai, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan(c), Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Noor Ahmad, Fazalhaq Farooqi

Pitch and conditions | Raunak Kapoor and Dale Steyn:Bright sunshine in Ahmedabad. We're on a different surface so there is a bias (in the ground dimensions). 64 meters on one side, 74 on the other. 72 meters down the ground. Fresh surface - pitch number 7. It's got a good clear covering of grass. Couple of dry patches but I still think it'll be a good batting deck. There might be a little bit with the new ball but after that it'll skid on nicely and play well for the batters.