Ahmedabad, Feb 21 (IANS) India will start their campaign of the T20 World Cup 2026 Super 8s round against South Africa. The clash between the two finalists of the 2024 World Cup will happen at the Narendra Modi Stadium on Sunday.

India and South Africa are placed in a tough Group A of the Super 8s with two-time champions West Indies and Zimbabwe. All four teams are coming to the contest after being table toppers of their respective groups in the first round.

This will be the 36th time India would face South Africa in the shortest format. Suryakumar Yadav’s team have the upper hand when it comes to the overall record. In the 35 matches played between them, India have emerged victorious in 21 occasions while South Africa have won only 13 games. One match has no result.

India’s dominance continues in the T20 World Cup also. Both teams have historically played seven matches in the multi-national tournament, in which the defending champions have won five matches, while the Proteas have been able to get only two wins.

South Africa are yet to beat India in a knockout match. Both teams have previously played in the 2014 semi-final and the historic 2024 World Cup final, but the two-time champions won in both matches.

India and South Africa recently met each other in a five-match T20I series played in December last year, where the men in blue beat the 2024 runners-up by 3-1, with one match getting washed out.

Head-to-head record between India and South Africa in T20Is

Total Matches Played: 35

India won: 21

South Africa won: 13

No Result: 1

Performance of both teams in their last 5 matches

India: W, W, W, W, W

South Africa: L, W, W, W, W

Squads:

India: Suryakumar Yadav (c), Ishan Kishan (wk), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Rinku Singh, Washington Sundar, Arshdeep Singh, Varun Chakaravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah, Sanju Samson (wk), Mohammed Siraj, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel.

South Africa: Aiden Markram (c), Quinton de Kock (wk), Ryan Rickelton, Dewald Brevis, Tristan Stubbs, Jason Smith, George Linde, Corbin Bosch, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje, Kwena Maphaka, David Miller, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Lungi Ngidi.

–IANS

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