The Aryavarth Express Ahmedabad (Gujarat): Afghanistan skipper Rashid Khan won the toss and elected to field first against South Africa in Match 13 of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 at the Narendra Modi Stadium on Wednesday.
Both teams made one change to their playing XIs. South Africa brought in George Linde for Corbin Bosch, while Afghanistan replaced Ziaur Rahman with Noor Ahmad. Each side included an additional spinner, anticipating some turn from the pitch, which generally offers even bounce and favors batters.
Rashid Khan said after the toss, “We will bowl first. It’s a fresh wicket, and we’re looking forward to chasing. Against big teams in the World Cup, it’s a must-win game for us. The energy with which we play is more important than the result. This is a ground I know well from the IPL, and I think the pitch will get better as the game progresses. A couple of areas for improvement: batting in the powerplay and maintaining consistent lengths. Noor Ahmad comes in for Ziaur Rahman.”
South Africa captain Aiden Markram added, “We would have bowled first as well. There’s quite a bit of moisture, but batting first is also fine. We aim to put runs on the board and apply pressure. One change for us: George Linde comes in for Corbin Bosch as an extra spinner. We had a good game against Canada, which gave us a good warm-up.”
South Africa Playing XI: Aiden Markram (c), Quinton de Kock (wk), Ryan Rickelton, Dewald Brevis, David Miller, Tristan Stubbs, Marco Jansen, George Linde, Kagiso Rabada, Keshav Maharaj, Lungi Ngidi.
Afghanistan Playing XI: Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Ibrahim Zadran, Gulbadin Naib, Sediqullah Atal, Darwish Rasooli, Azmatullah Omarzai, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan (c), Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Noor Ahmad, Fazalhaq Farooqi.
South Africa enters the game on the back of a win against Canada in their opening Group D fixture, while Afghanistan lost their first match to New Zealand.
