South Africa march into Super 8 with all-win record under gloomy Delhi skies

South Africa vs UAE T20 World Cup 2026: Aiden Markram’s side hammered UAE by 6 wickets to post their fourth successive win in the tournament.

South Africa’s Corbin Bosch celebrates after claiming a wicket vs UAE in T20 World Cup 2026 match in New Delhi. (Photo: PTI)

India.com at T20 World Cup 2026: The runners-up from the 2024 edition have emerged as one of the clear favourites to challenge Team India for their title as they marched into the Super 8 stages with an all-win record from Group D. Aiden Markram’s side hammered United Arab Emirates by 6 wickets with more than six overs to spare under gloomy skies at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi on Wednesday.

In a Group featuring New Zealand and Afghanistan, the Proteas have come out unscathed in spite of a patchy performance in the field. The butter-fingered South African side dropped as many as four catches on Wednesday – the joint second-most in T20 World Cup matches after India’s four drops against Pakistan at the R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo. Only Ireland dropped more catches – 5 – in a T20 World Cup match.

But UAE batters, barring Alishan Sharafu, failed to grab the opportunity on offer from the South African bowlers after being sent into bat by Aiden Markram as they were restricted to 122 for 6 in 20 overs. All-rounder Corbin Bosch was the pick of the bowlers, rocking UAE early with two wickets in his opening two overs before ending up with 3/12 in 4 overs. Bosch dismissed UAE opener and half-centurion from game vs Canada, Aryansh Sharma for 13 and added the wicket of in-form Sohaib Khan for 6.

UAE’s Sohaib had scored back-to-back fifties against Canada and Afghanistan in his last two T20 World Cup 2026 matches. Bosch capped off the fine performance with the wicket of Muhammad Arfan for 13.

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He was backed up by former Delhi Capitals pacer Anrich Nortje, who claimed 2/28 in 4 overs. Nortje also created a new record in T20 World Cup matches – rising to second spot among pace bowlers with most wickets in this ICC tournament. Nortje now has 37 wickets in T20 World Cup games, going past former New Zealand pacer Tim Southee, who had 36. He is only one wicket short of former Sri Lanka pacer Lasith Malinga, who retired with 38 wickets in T20 World Cup games.

“I felt the quicks did most of the hard work for me. I just had to put the ball in the right areas, and luckily I managed to do that. I was obviously under pressure after the last game, so I knew I had to put in a performance for the team. It’s definitely a bit different. There’s a lot more bounce here and it can be a bit skiddy as well. So something you have to adapt to. But we’ve got a lot of guys with IPL experience who understand the conditions here, which helps,” South Africa all-rounder George Linde, who claimed 1/17 in 4 overs, said.

Ryan Rickleton, Dewald Brevis make short work of target

South African batters overhauled the modest 123-run target with consummate ease in only 13.2 overs. Skipper Aiden Markram set the platform with a belligerent 28 in 11 balls with 5 fours and 1 six.

No. 3 batter Ryan Rickleton, who has been retained for Rs 2 crore by Nita Ambani’s Mumbai Indians, smashed 30 in 16 balls with successive sixes off Muhammad Farooq before perishing while attempting to go for a hat-trick of sixes in the over.

Chennai Super Kings batter Dewald Brevis smashed a couple of massive sixes to delight the Delhi crowd and send warning signals to the Indian camp with 36 in 25 balls balls with 3 sixes and 1 four.

SA’s ‘specialist consultant’ Albie Morkel had called Dewald Brevis the ‘X-factor’ of their team and he lived up to that billing. “I mean, we see him as an X-Factor player. We feel if you sort of ask him to play a certain way, you take away that X Factor. And he’s going to break your heart at some stage, but he’s also going to win you games. So the best way for us with him is just to let him be that guy,” Morkel had said about Brevis, who had scores of 21, 23 and 6 in this T20 World Cup 2026 before Wednesday.

For all latest updates of T20 World Cup 2026 you can visit: https://www.india.com/icc-mens-t20-world-cup-2026/

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