T20 World Cup: Markram, Ngidi star in South Africa's dominant show against Canada

AHMEDABAD: There’s a reason why South Africa have packed their squad with hit-the-deck pacers. The true nature of the surface at the Narendra Modi Stadium, where they play three group matches and are scheduled to play a Super 8 encounter, demands bowlers who can bend the back, hit the good length constantly and deprive batters the freedom to flex their arms.

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Pacers Lungi Ngidi (4/31 off his four overs) and Kagiso Rabada did exactly that on Monday against Canada in their campaign opener. They reduced Canada to 45/4 in under six overs in a chase of 213 — the highest total of the tournament so far — following which Canada hardly mounted a chase but batted out overs to close at 156/8. The 57-run triumph helped South Africa enjoy a far easier opening outing against an Associate nation than some of their Full-Member counterparts.




Earlier, David Miller’s (39 off 23b; 1x4, 3x6) affinity with the Narendra Modi Stadium stood out as he, along with fellow middle-order batter Tristan Stubbs (34* off 19b; 2x4, 2x6), brought South Africa out of a wobble with a 37-ball 75-run alliance to propel them to 213/4.

After Baroda-born left-arm wristspinner Ansh Patel (3/31) had pegged South Africa back with the wickets of captain Aiden Markram, Ryan Rickleton and aggressor Dewald Brevis, Miller and Stubbs bided their time before going after Jaskaran Singh and Kaleem Sana in the last three overs. Miller and Stubbs used the long handle to smash five maximums off the last 14 balls to score 47 runs in the last three overs.

Invited to bat first, Markram (59 off 32b; 10x4, 1x6) and Quinton de Kock (25 off 22b; 2x4) started slowly before gathering pace with a flurry of boundaries off medium pacer Dilon Heyliger. The introduction of left-arm spinner Saad Bin Zafar got de Kock going as he crunched two boundaries through the off side.

With Markram doing the heavy lifting in the Powerplay, South Africa sprinted their way to 66. The first over after the Powerplay, however, saw de Kock being undone by a loopy delivery from Canada captain Dilpreet Bajwa.

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