South Africa remained unbeaten from Group D as they thrashed United Arab Emirates (UAE) by six wickets. Having already qualified to the Super Eights the Proteas made four changes for this dead rubber outing of the T20 World Cup 2026 at the Arun Jaitley stadium in New Delhi on Wednesday.
With the Super Eight spot secured South Africa rested their key players David Miller, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj and Lungi Ngidi. But they made easy work of the contest as they restricted UAE for 122 for 6 after opting to field first in overcast conditions.
Dewald Brevis (36) and Ryan Rickelton (30) scored briskly as South Africa gunned down the target in 13.2 overs to finish their league stage with four wins.
Earlier, Aryansh Sharma got a reprieve when Quinton de Kock dropped him at six but it didn’t prove costly as the opener fell to Corbin Bosch on 13. Left-arm spinner George Linde struck first with the wicket of Muhammad Waseem for 22.
Bosch then returned to claim the big wicket of Sohaib Khan to leave UAE struggling at 64 for 3 in 9.2 overs. Alishan Sharafu (45) top-scored for UAE despite being hit by a potent Bosch bouncer followed by concussion protocols after. Bosch finished with figures of 3 for 12 while Anrich Nortje claimed two scalps.
South Africa Aiden Markram (28) and de Kock (14) in the powerplay but Rickleton and Brevis scored fluently to take the Proteas close to the target. Tristan Stubbs and Jason Smith gave the finishing touch.
“It was great to see the boys that came in and that have been working hard for an opportunity to grab that opportunity with both hands,” South Africa captain Markram said after the match.
“I thought the bowling unit once again was really good in executing plans on that wicket. It gives confidence to us as a group to know that each guy in the 15 is in a good space,” he added.
