T20WC 2026 NZ vs SA Playing 11: Mitchell Santner-led New Zealand will square off against Aiden Markram-led South Africa in the 24th match of the men’s T20 World Cup 2026 on February 14 at Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad.
Blackcaps secured wins against Afghanistan and UAE in the ongoing campaign, while South Africa secured wins against Canada and UAE.
New Zealand has secured a top spot in the T20 World Cup 2026 points table with a better run rate while South Africa is in the second position.
This will be the first time, South Africa and New Zealand meet in T20 World Cup since 2014 and they have met four times in ICC stage where South Africa won all four times.
South Africa won the toss and opted to bowl. Speaking at the toss, Aiden Markram said, “We will bowl first. Played one night game here, thought the wicket got better through the game.”
“Hopefully the boys can bowl well up front and give us something that we can chase a bit later. Slight dew, not heaps. It can be a bit hit and miss at times (on the dew), so there was a little bit of dew that night,” added Markram.
“If there’s more tonight, I mean, we won’t complain about it, but either way, we just felt like under the lights, slightly later, it came out a bit better. That was tough. Physically, emotionally, I think the boys took a bit of a hit, but I mean, it’s good to have those close games early on in the comp,” added Aiden Markram.
Toss Update 🪙
🇿🇦 South Africa have won the toss and elected to Bowl first.
🔁 One change for #TheProteas sees George Linde make way for Corbin Bosch.
Here’s how we line up for the third match of our #T20WorldCup campaign. 🏏#Unbreakable pic.twitter.com/FLijNY1kAX
— Proteas Men (@ProteasMenCSA) February 14, 2026
“Especially when you’re stretching quite a bit of good if you get over the line. So we were grateful for that, but yeah, it’s about us having regrouped over the past couple of days and having to do our best,” added South Africa captain.
Speaking on the Today South Africa cricket team players list, he added, “Yeah, we’ve got one change. So Corbin Bosch comes back and Linde misses out.”
Meanwhile, New Zealand captain Mitchell Santner said, “It looks like a pretty good wicket. We’ll just try to get some runs on the board, hopefully not too much dew later on, but I think we can bowl as well. Hopefully it’s not as much dew later on, but I think we probably would have bowled as well.”
“Yeah, it’s been good. I mean, you know, I’ve just seen throughout the tournament, there’s no easy wins anymore. So I guess we did what we could. But again, tonight, it’s a massive game again. We win, you kind of cruise, so I guess that’s our thinking,” added Santner.
“Yeah, it is. We know how good South Africa are and they’ve shown that for a long time now. And for us, it’s, yeah, it’s a big game. And again, we know they’re a quality side, so yeah, I guess those small improvements that we’ve done from games one to two and then taken into this game. We’ve got the same team,” concluded Mitchell Santner.
Before the match begins, don’t forget to read the detailed Narendra Modi Stadium weather report for today.
T20WC 2026 NZ vs SA Playing 11
New Zealand Playing 11: Finn Allen, Tim Seifert(w), Rachin Ravindra, Glenn Phillips, Mark Chapman, Daryl Mitchell, Mitchell Santner(c), James Neesham, Matt Henry, Lockie Ferguson, Jacob Duffy
South Africa Playing 11: Aiden Markram(c), Quinton de Kock(w), Ryan Rickelton, Dewald Brevis, David Miller, Tristan Stubbs, Marco Jansen, Corbin Bosch, Kagiso Rabada, Keshav Maharaj, Lungi Ngidi
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