Aiden Markram made a solid knock set up South Africa’s 9-wicket victory against West Indies in the T20 World Cup 2026, played at Narendra Modi Stadium.

His unbeaten knock, along with brilliant captaincy, guides South Africa to maintain its unbeaten streak in the ongoing T20 World Cup campaign, making its qualification chances stronger

South Africa climbed back to the top spot in the T20 World Cup 2026 points table. After being invited to bat first,  Brandon King and Shai Hope opened the innings for West Indies while Keshav Maharaj opened the bowling attack.

Despite an aggressive start, they failed to capitalise on the innings as Rabada bagged the wicket of Shai Hope for 16 runs. Hetmyer, who came to bat, gave his wicket to Kagiso Rabada for 2 runs.

With the dismissals of Brandon King for 21 runs and Roston Chase for 2 runs to Lungi Ngidi, West Indies lost four wickets to score 43 runs.

With Rovman Powell and Sherfane Rutherford at the crease, West Indies went on to score 52 runs in the powerplay.

Corbin Bosch, who came to bowl after the end of powerplay, bagged the wicket of Sherfane Rutherford for 12 runs.

Powell’s dismissal for 9 runs by Lungi Ngidi left West Indies with four wickets lost for 71 runs.

Bosch bagged his second wicket, dismissing Matthew Forde for 11 runs. However, Jason Holder and Romario Shepherd stabilised the innings, making a stunning partnership of 89 run partnership.

Holder, who scored 49 runs off 31 deliveries, narrowly missed his fifty as he got dismissed on a runout.

With Romario Shepherd’s unbeaten 52, West Indies posted a defendable total of 176 runs in their 20-over innings.

Lungi Ngidi picked three wickets while Kagiso Rabada and Corbin Bosch bagged two wickets each.

Chasing the 177 run target, Aiden Markram and Quinton de Kock opened the innings while Matthew Forde opened the bowling attack.

The opener made a solid start, posting 69 runs in the powerplay. Roston Chase picked the wicket of Quinton de Kock for 47 runs.

Ryan Rickelton, who came to bat, joined Aiden Markram to comfortably complete the chase in the 17th over.

Aiden Markram made an 82* run knock off 46 deliveries, which included 7 fours and 4 sixes. On the other end, Ryan Rickelton smashed 45* runs off 28 deliveries as South Africa scored 177 runs with 23 balls to spare.

Aiden Markram was named Player of the Match. Speaking on the post-match presentation, “Yeah, I thought we actually bowled quite nicely. It seemed like the West Indies were going to take the game to you and a few might squirt off, a few clean as well, but we thought it was quite tacky.”

“It was a little bit stoppy and with that extra bounce, new ball, a little bit of nip, we wanted to keep really trying to bowl good lengths and with a lot of energy on it.”

“With only two out, the ball can travel, but if you keep taking wickets, you’re sort of staying in the game. And yeah, we were impressed with our performance in the power play,” added Aiden Markram.