The 39th match of the ICC T20 World Cup 2026 was played between Afghanistan and Canada. In this match played at MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai, Afghanistan ended their campaign happily by winning by 82 runs. The Afghan team, which was out of the Super-8 race, had scored 200 runs at the loss of 4 wickets when invited to bat first, in response to which the Canadian team could score only 118 runs in 20 overs.
Zadran scored unbeaten 95 runs
After losing the toss and opting to bat first, the opening pair of Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran gave a good start to the Afghanistan team. Both added 47 runs for the first wicket. Gurbaz was out in the last over of the powerplay after scoring 30 runs in 20 balls. In the same over, new batsman Gulbadin Naib (1) also walked. After the score was 49/2, Zadran along with Sediqullah Atal took charge and made a partnership of 95 runs for the third wicket.
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Sediqullah (44 runs in 32 balls) was out in the 16th over but Zadran stood at one end and played an unbeaten inning of 95 runs with the help of 7 fours and 5 sixes in 56 balls, taking Afghanistan to 200 runs, which proved to be an impossible target for Canada. The Canadian team made a good start in the run chase but after the collapse of the opening pair at 25 runs, its spirits were shattered and it was barely able to cross 100. For that, Harsh Thaker scored the maximum 30 runs. Mohammad Nabi bowled lethally for Afghanistan and took 4 wickets for 7 runs in 4 overs. Captain Rashid Khan got 2 successes.
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Jonathan Trott’s emotional farewell
Afghanistan had to face defeat at the hands of New Zealand in its first match. After this, he showed great spirit in the ‘do or die’ match against South Africa but he lost in the double super over, which sealed his departure from the tournament. Afghanistan failed to progress past the group stage in the tournament but won both their last matches to bid a fond farewell to head coach Jonathan Trott. During the tenure of Jonathan Trott, who joined the Afghanistan team in 2022, this team performed well in the 2023 ODI World Cup, 2024 T20 World Cup and 2025 Champions Trophy.
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