SA skipper Aiden Markram
Credit: Reuters Photo
Bengaluru: “Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies,” Andy Dufresne told Red in The Shawshank Redemption.
With another T20 World Cup on the horizon, there will be another burst of hope for South Africa. After suffering a killing blow in Barbados in 2024, the wounded finalists find themselves in the Group of Death, tangled up with New Zealand, Afghanistan, Canada and the UAE in Group D.
However, South Africa have immediate history to lean on, having come through tricky games in their run to the final in the Americas. While the campaign was uplifting, the joy was short-lived.
This time, their squad selection showed they prioritised potential over experience by picking Jason Smith and Kwena Maphaka.
The Proteas’ batting armoury is well stacked with explosiveness and stability, comprising Quinton de Kock, Aiden Markram, David Miller and Dewald Brevis.
The issue, however, will be their bowling. They have pedigree on paper, but they lack numbers to back it. While Kagiso Rabada’s is a form issue, Lungi Ngidi has just worked his way back from a knee issue. However, Marco Jansen and Keshav Maharaj have been among the wickets and will need to complement each other to dust off the white-ball trophy cabinet.
New Zealand have been in the sub-continent for the last three weeks but have not had much joy playing white-ball cricket. However, they will have to rely on the experience gained and the heartbreak of the 2021 T20 World Cup final to inspire them to put up a spirited show.
While they have a week to provide the final touches working around injuries and player availability, the Kiwis will bank heavily on their spinners to spread their wings with three of their four group games scheduled on slow Chennai surfaces.
And this is where they will feel comfortable, as Mitchell Santner and Ish Sodhi boast an impressive 297 T20I wickets between them.
Jacob Duffy will spearhead a well-conditioned pace attack. However, they might lose on Matt Henry and Lockie Ferguson due to paternity leaves.
The batting also looks healthy but they will have to bring their adaptability skills to win over the conditions. While Finn Allen and Tim Seifert’s strong suit will be batting against pace, they will need to figure out a way to play Afghanistan’s spin at Chepauk.
Daryl Mitchell, Glenn Phillips and James Neesham are set to operate in the middle-order. While the side might not seem like title-contenders, New Zealand, like always, will look to spring up something special.
If the 2023 ODI World Cup was a statement tournament for Afghanistan, the 2024 T20 World Cup was a declaration that they enter competitions to compete and not just as pushovers.
While they failed to reach the semifinals at the 2025 Champions Trophy, they beat continental rivals Pakistan and Bangladesh on points and Sri Lanka on qualification.
Afghanistan are perfectly capable of progressing to the next stage, provided the batting rises to the occasion.
Their top and middle-order bank on an aggressive approach, sometimes at the expense of game sense, and that could come to haunt them in pressure situations.
However, their four-pronged spin attack will look to stifle the opposition with skipper Rashid Khan eyeing to spin history.
Highlights - T20s in numbers South Africa M: 217, W: 116, L: 97, NR: 3 New ZealandM: 251, W: 127, L: 103, NR: 11 AfghanistanM: 159, W: 96, L: 60, NR: 1 UAEM: 143 W: 77, L: 65, NR: 1 CanadaM: 86, W: 48, L: 34, NR: 2