🏏ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2026:M34: SA vs UAE, Delhi 🏏

🏏ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2026: Group D,M34:South Africa vs UAE at Delhi🏏

South Africa and UAE meet in Group D with qualification no longer a concern for one side and no longer possible for the other. South Africa have already secured their place in the Super Eights, while UAE saw their slim qualification hopes end following New Zealand's win over Canada, a result that also eliminated Afghanistan. For South Africa, this fixture is about fine-tuning and building rhythm ahead of the next round, while UAE will aim to sign off from their campaign with a strong performance.

South Africa's campaign has been built on balance and control. The 2024 edition's runners-up began with a dominant win over Canada, held their nerve in a dramatic two-Super-Over thriller against Afghanistan, and followed it up with another strong showing against New Zealand. Their batting has found contributions across the order, allowing them to recover even when early wickets have fallen, while the bowling unit has consistently delivered at key moments. The pace attack has set the tone, with Keshav Maharaj's spin providing control through the middle overs, giving them the all-round solidity.

UAE, meanwhile, have experienced a mixed tournament. After a heavy defeat to New Zealand, they responded impressively with a narrow win over Canada that briefly revived their campaign, before falling short again against Afghanistan. There have been encouraging individual displays with both bat and ball, and at their best they have shown discipline and composure in phases. With qualification no longer possible, UAE's focus will shift to finishing strongly and carrying confidence from this outing into future tournaments.

When: Match 34, Wednesday, February 18 at 11:00 AM local time

Where: Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi

What to expect: Four matches have been played so far in Delhi, with the teams batting second holding a 3-1 advantage, chasing down targets in the 150-160 range. The time a team batting first won here was when India posted 209 against Namibia.

Team news:

South Africa:

With qualification secured, South Africa face a choice between rotating their resources and sticking with a tried-and-tested XI. They have used 12 players so far in the tournament, with Jason Smith, Anrich Nortje and Kwena Maphaka still awaiting their first game.

Probable XI: Aiden Markram (c), Quinton de Kock (wk), Ryan Rickelton, Dewald Brevis, David Miller, Tristan Stubbs, Marco Jansen, Corbin Bosch, Kagiso Rabada, Keshav Maharaj, Lungi Ngidi

UAE:

UAE could stick with the same XI after making a couple of changes in their previous game against Afghanistan, bringing in Simranjeet Singh and Syed Haider.

Probable XI: Aryansh Sharma (wk), Muhammad Waseem (c), Alishan Sharafu, Sohaib Khan, Syed Haider, Harshit Kaushik, Muhammad Arfan, Haider Ali, Simranjeet Singh, Junaid Siddique, Muhammad Jawadullah

What they said:

"I don't think I'll be a proper slogger. I think I need to do it a bit differently maybe to other guys, but with the intent to still get the team off to a fly" - Aiden Markram, South Africa captain.

"The more we play cricket with the Test nations...you have seen that the associate countries are performing (well). They are having good matches, the boys are learning a lot from them." - Muhammed Waseem, UAE captain.

Big picture: Will South Africa stay perfect?

The threat of rain looms over South Africa's final group stage game in the T20 World Cup 2026, but for a change, there is no jeopardy of weather-induced heartbreak for last year's finalists. They have won their three games so far, and already secured their spot in the Super Eight.

They will, however, want to keep up their winning habit, and go into the next round with a perfect record. The match against UAE will also see South Africa play their first game outside Ahmedabad this World Cup, so it will be a test for them in comparatively unfamiliar conditions.

The match will offer South Africa a chance to rotate, and also work on any potential weaknesses they may have identified so far.

They come up against a UAE side that showed plenty of fight in their last match against Afghanistan. Although it ended in defeat, Alishan Sharafu and Sohaib Khan's knocks, as well as their bowling display for most parts of Afghanistan's chase, will give them confidence.

That game was also a day match in Delhi, so UAE will feel they have a better grasp of the conditions.

They may not have qualification to play for, but a chance to end their campaign by slaying a giant will be ample motivation for UAE.

In the spotlight: Kagiso Rabada and Muhammad Waseem

With just two wickets in three games, it's been a quiet World Cup so far for South Africa's pace spearhead Kagiso Rabada. As one of South Africa's talismans, he will want to improve those numbers and go into the Super Eight stage high on confidence. It was the fast bowlers who enjoyed better results in the last game at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, and Rabada will want to make his mark felt.

UAE's captain and their most prolific run-getter, Muhammad Waseem, began the World Cup with a half-century against New Zealand, but returned scores of 4 and 10 in their next two games. Against a strong South African bowling lineup, UAE will want Waseem to use his experience and lead the batting lineup from the front.

Pitch and conditions

The match will be played on the same pitch on which India beat Namibia and UAE registered their only win of the competition, against Canada. Outside of India's score of 209 for 9, there have only been two scores of 160 or more - both in UAE's defeat to Afghanistan. With Wednesday's clash being a day game, expect the ball to grip and stay low.

Stats and trivia

• This will be the first time these two teams meet in T20Is. They have played two ODIs in the past, and South Africa won both of those.
• Aiden Markram is just 105 runs away from becoming South Africa's fourth-highest run-scorer in T20Is.

Quotes

"I wouldn't like to make statements about that (South Africa going all the way). We were in a really tough group. The first box is ticked, getting through to the next stage. To me, the World Cup starts now."

South Africa specialist coach Albie Morkel is not thinking too far ahead.

"Overall, our journey has been good so far. Yes, the first game, we never did well as a bowling unit but I think we batted well. But the last two games, we really proved that we are a better team than what was expected after the first game."

UAE head coach Lalchand Rajput

Thank you Soni, for the thread and for tagging.

Best wishes to both teams.

Thanks for the tag Soni!

May the best team win.

Cheers..