South Africa National Cricket Team vs Afghanistan National Cricket Team Match: Afghanistan won the toss and chose to bat against South Africa in the 13th match of Group D at the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2026 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Wednesday, February 11, 2026. South Africa started the tournament with a 57-run win over Canada, while Afghanistan will aim to recover after losing their opening match to New Zealand in Chennai.
Afghanistan made one change, with Noor Ahmed replacing Zia Ur Rahman, while South Africa brought in George Linde for Corbin Bosch.
Afghanistan captain Rashid Khan said his team plans to chase, expecting the pitch to improve as the game progresses. "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," he said.
South Africa captain Aiden Markram said the pitch has some moisture but batting first is not a bad option. "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," Markram said.
South Africa vs Afghanistan Playing XIs
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
