- By Namrata Vijay
- Fri, 02 Jan 2026 07:48 PM (IST)
- Source:JND
T20 World Cup 2026: South Africa have snubbed players like Tristan Stubbs and Ryan Rickelton from their ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2026 squad as Aiden Markram will be leading the team from the front in the mega event, which will be held in India and Sri Lanka next month. The team management revealed the squad on Thursday, which has mixed and talented players.
Markram will be leading the team, which will have players like Quinton de Kock, who recently reversed his retirement, and pacer Anrich Nortje, who returned to the national team after an injury layoff.
Kagiso Rabada too came back to the national side post giving the series against India a miss, owing to a rib injury, and has bolstered their bowling attack. The team also includes Lungi Ngidi, Marco Jansen, and Corbin Bosch.
One of the notable exclusions was of Stubs, especially when the youngster had sealed his position. His getting snubbed means that the selectors want a balanced team for subcontinent conditions. Rickelton, too, has been dropped, whereas players like Reeza Hendricks, Ottneil Baartman, and Lutho Sipamla, who were part of the India series, have been dropped as well.
"We have had to make some big calls, but we feel this group is the strongest and has every chance of succeeding in India and Sri Lanka. We have assembled a world-class squad with some of the finest and most experienced players in the game, together with some of the best T20 youngsters coming through, Patrick Moroney, who is the selector, said.
The selectors gave maiden T20 World Cup call-ups to Corbin Bosch, Dewald Brevis, Tony de Zorzi, Donovan Ferreira, George Linde, Kwena Maphaka, and Jason Smith, and that shows their depth in all departments. Smith got his spot on the back of brilliant performances in domestic cricket.
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South Africa is in Group D, which has teams like Afghanistan, New Zealand, Canada, and the United Arab Emirates. They will face Canada in their tournament opener.
South Africa, who are still aiming to lift their first title, will try to repeat their heroics from the final of the last World Cup, where they lost to the Rohit Sharma-led side by a small margin. They have retained experienced players like De Kock, David Miller, and Keshav Maharaj.
Shukri Conrad, who is the head coach, has revealed that recent experience in the subcontinent will help them a lot. "We are returning to the subcontinent, where we recently competed against hosts India. The experience we gained playing in those conditions will undoubtedly benefit us as we head into this tournament," he said.
"Many of the players selected for the World Cup squad were on that trip and experienced first-hand the pitches that we will likely encounter. We do have one more T20I series against the West Indies before we depart for the World Cup, and that squad will be announced later this month," he added.
SOUTH AFRICA SQUAD: Aiden Markram(c), Quinton de Kock, Tony de Zorzi, Dewald Brevis, David Miller, Donovan Ferreira, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Kwena Maphaka, Lungi Ngidi, Jason Smith, George Linde, Corbin Bosch, Anrich Nortje.