Chennai, Feb 15 (IANS) The USA have won the toss and opted to bat against Namibia in their final group stage match of the T20 World Cup 2026 here at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on Sunday.

The USA has made one change to the team as Sourabh Netravalkar comes back in place of Nosthush Keninge. While Dylan Leicher and Willem Myburgh come in place of Malan Kruger and Ben Shikongo in the Namibia Team.

The USA would like to end their group stage campaign with a win and give them an outside chance to grab the Super 8 spot when they face Namibia in their last group stage match.

The USA started their campaign with back-to-back losses against India and Pakistan. However, Monank Patel’s team made a comeback in the third match and registered their biggest win in the tournament by beating the opposition with a margin of 93 runs.

While Namibia will look to register their first win in the ongoing tournament after suffering two losses at the start, they first fell to the Netherlands, who registered a seven-wicket win, and then the defending champions India, handing them their second defeat by 93 runs.

After winning the toss, USA skipper Monank Patel said, “We’re going to bat first. It’s a very different pitch compared to the Netherlands game, so it’s a red soil, and we did really well against the Netherlands batting first, so we want to continue the same momentum and make sure we put up a good score. We have one change. Saurabh comes in to play for Nosthush. I feel like it’s a better pitch than what we played against the Netherlands, so I think it should be a good even bounce and later on, coming up, we expect some more.”

While after losing the toss Gerald Erasmus said, “Back-to-back first, but I don’t think it’s too much of a concern on this little bit of a wicket. So yeah, I’ve just got to, you know, suck it up, I guess. I think there’s a bit of freshness with the grass being kept on there for a bit longer today. So hopefully that second row as well and that second part of the wicket go our way.

“Yeah, we’ve got two changes. So we’ve got Leicher in for Kruger, and we’re also playing Myburgh instead of Shikongo as he’s injured. Yeah, pretty much looking for a little more all-round balance. He’s proved to be a big hitter and, you know, a great fielder and gives us that overseas option,” he added.

Playing XIs

USA: Monank Patel (c), Shayan Jahangir (wk), Saiteja Mukkamalla, Sanjay Krishnamurthi, Shubham Ranjane, Milind Kumar, Harmeet Singh, Mohammad Mohsin, Shadley van Schalkwyk, Ehsan Adil, Saurabh Netravalkar

Namibia: Jan Frylinck, Louren Steenkamp, Jan Nicol Loftie-Eaton, Gerhard Erasmus (c), JJ Smit, Zane Green (wk), Dylan Leicher, Ruben Trumpelmann, Willem Myburgh, Bernard Scholtz, Max Heingo

–IANS

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