Markram, Ngidi fashion South Africa's handsome win

A dominant all-round performance defined South Africa's 57-run win in their T20 World Cup opener against Canada at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. The win was set up by captain Aiden Markram's flamboyant 59, before Lungi Ngidi starred with the ball, taking 4 for 31.

South Africa lost the toss but that was their only setback. On a batting-friendly pitch, Markram unleashed aesthetic strokes. Quinton de Kock was more sedate than usual, even receiving a reprieve on five when Ansh Patel dropped a chance. De Kock fell to opposition skipper Dilpreet Bajwa, but Ryan Rickelton batted fluently, carrying the innings forward with Markram, who notched a half-century.

A mini-wobble followed as Markram fell to an outstanding leaping catch by Dilon Heyliger, after which Rickelton and Dewald Brevis fell in quick succession to leg-spinner Ansh Patel.

Tristan Stubbs and David Miller stabilised the innings before attacking in the death overs. A whopping 47 runs came off the last three overs as Stubbs tore into Jaskarandeep Singh. Three sixes in the final over powered South Africa to 213 for 4, the highest total of the tournament so far.

Canada's chase started disastrously as Bajwa departed first ball, edging Ngidi to de Kock. Ngidi struck twice more in the third over, removing Yuvraj Samra and Nicholas Kirton. Kagiso Rabada then flattened Shreyas Movva's off stump as Canada lost four wickets inside the PowerPlay.

Navneet Dhaliwal put up a strong vigil with Harsh Thaker, managing a 69-run partnership for the fifth wicket. However, the asking rate mounted steeply. Ngidi returned to break the stand, taking his fourth wicket by dismissing Thaker shortly after Dhaliwal raised his half-century. Marco Jansen landed a double-strike, sealing the result.

Dhaliwal eventually fell off the first ball of the final over to Corbin Bosch. Keshav Maharaj also contributed economically to cap off a massive win for the 2024 finalists.

Brief Scores: South Africa 213/4 in 20 overs (Aiden Markram 59, David Miller 39*, Ansh Patel 3-31) beat Canada 156/8 in 20 overs (Navneet Dhaliwal 64, Lungi Ngidi 4-31, Marco Jansen 2-30) by 57 runs.