Canada will have first use of the ball in Chennai after skipper Dilpreet Bajwa called correctly in this final Group D match of the 2026 T20 World Cup. With neither side able to reach the Super Eights, the contest is more about pride than points, yet both camps have nudged their XIs to suit the surface.
Afghanistan have left out young wrist-spinner Noor Ahmad and brought in right-arm quick Abdullah Amazdzai. Canada, reading similar signals from the pitch – and the evening dew Bajwa keeps mentioning – have swapped off-spinner Shivam Sharma for left-arm seamer Kaleem Sana.
The ground staff reckon there will be enough grip early on, then a greasy sheen later. Bajwa, never one for long speeches, simply said he’d “rather know the target”. That was that.
Canada’s players are fresh from an eight-wicket defeat here to New Zealand, a bruising evening softened by opener Yuvraj Samra’s astonishing 110 from 65 balls – the youngest century in men’s World Cup history. Batting coach Monty Desai, still shaking his head two days later, called it “one of those knocks you don’t forget in a hurry”. Samra and Bajwa again form the top order, with retiring former captain Navneet Dhaliwal pencilled in at three. The 37-year-old bows out tonight as Canada’s leading T20I run-scorer.
Afghanistan’s mood is quieter. Captain Rashid Khan admitted the double Super Over defeat to South Africa still stings. “It’s not been the kind of end we wanted in this competition,” he said. “We wanted to be in the Super Eight, we wanted to be in the Super Four. The game against South Africa didn’t go our way and put us down. We’ll bring our best energy, our best game and we’ll finish off well.” Chepauk usually fills up quickly when Afghanistan play; the hope is that noise will lift a team also saying goodbye to head coach Jonathan Trott.
Conditions
Evening humidity is high, dew almost guaranteed, so chasing feels logical. Spin could still have a role early, but both captains clearly fancy hard lengths under lights.
Teams
Afghanistan: Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Ibrahim Zadran, Gulbadin Naib, Sediqullah Atal, Darwish Rasooli, Azmatullah Omarzai, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan (c), Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Abdullah Amazdzai, Ziaur Rahman.
Canada: Dilpreet Bajwa (c), Yuvraj Samra, Navneet Dhaliwal, Harsh Thaker, Nicholas Kirton, Shreyas Movva, Saad Bin Zafar, Dilon Heyliger, Jaskaran Singh, Kaleem Sana, Ansh Patel.
Nothing rides on the result, yet individual stories remain: Samra’s burgeoning talent, Dhaliwal’s farewell, Trott’s sign-off, and Rashid’s pursuit of a happier flight home. For a so-called dead rubber, it’s got just enough threads to keep you watching.
