Mumbai: Lungi Ngidi lay on the pitch at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, flat on his back rubbing the side of his right hip. As the cameras zoomed out, his South Africa teammates walked towards him as the physio made his way from the sidelines.
The fourth ball of the fifth over was a slower delivery. It caught Canada’s Shreyas Movva off guard and as he tried to get bat to ball, it looped up invitingly. Ngidi perhaps never had any chance of getting there but still decided to change direction in his follow-through. He slipped and fell heavily on his side. But all remained calm.
A few minutes later, he was back up again. Just over an hour later, last edition’s finalists South Africa marched to a 57-run win to mark their campaign opener of the T20 World Cup 2026 on Monday.
That one scare for Ngidi – the opening bowler – was the only moment in the match that might have been a cause for concern for the Proteas. But this is a South African team that has travelled to India supposedly armed with an improved attitude.
The tears they shed after the loss in the final to India in the last edition have long been forgotten. What remains fresh and happily in the memory is the triumph at the ICC World Test Championship last year. Coming into the match against unfancied Canada on Monday, captain Aiden Markram acknowledged the new mindset his team has adopted.
“It does feel that way – the belief, confidence, monkey off the back and all those things play a role in the language and behaviour within the camp,” Markram told reporters on Sunday.
“It definitely helps. But having said that, I don’t think we’ll rock up here now all of a sudden and it’s going to be easy or whatever. We’re going to have to be on it.”
On Tuesday, as South Africa took on Canada, it was not necessarily a masterclass the Proteas put on display. Instead, it was an efficient performance to pick up two points.
Put in to bat after losing the toss, South Africa were led from the front by Markram. The 31-year-old did well for his 59 off 32 balls in an innings that included 10 boundaries and one heave over the fence. It took an exceptional catch, inches from the rope, by a leaping Dilon Heylinger to dismiss the captain. What followed was a handy cameo of 33 (from 21 balls) by Ryan Rickelton, while the unbeaten pair of David Miller (39 off 23) and Tristan Stubbs (34 off 19) took the team to 213/4.
After the break, it was the turn of the pace-heavy South Africa bowling unit to take charge. Leading the front was Ngidi, and his first ball was a perfectly pitched quick delivery that found that hint of movement away from the batter. Canada captain Dilpreet Bajwa was too late to pull out of a shot and his edge gave Quinton de Kock a simple catch.
Tinkering with the speed to leave no scope for any rhythm for the batters, Ngidi picked up two more wickets before he hit the deck heavily.
The match had tilted sharply towards last edition’s runners-up, yet Canada’s Navneet Dhaliwal (59 from 32) and Harsh Thaker (33 off 29) stitched together a commendable 69-run partnership.
The South Africans didn’t panic. They kept the overs rolling, enduring the runs and boundaries the Canadians did manage.
Until the man with the bruised hip came back into the attack to dismiss Thaker with yet another slower ball – he finished with 4/31 and took the player of the match award.
Marco Jansen later chipped in with 2/30 while Kagiso Rabada took 1/40 and Corbin Bosch 1/27, with Canada restricted to 156/8.
As the campaign progresses, there will be tougher opponents. Afghanistan and New Zealand also placed in Group D. And this for a team that has lost seven of the 11 T20 bilateral series they have played since reaching the final in 2024.
But on Monday night, the match belonged to the calm, efficient South Africa.