India emerged victorious in their final dress rehearsal before the T20 World Cup 2026 as they defeated South Africa in their warm-up clash at the Dr DY Patil Sports Academy, Navi Mumbai on Wednesday, February 4.
The defending champions piled up 240/6 batting first in what was another brilliant performance from the batters. Ishan Kishan scored a blistering 53, while almost everyone contributed in the innings where Sanju Samson was not sent to bat. In reply, South Africa did well and gave it a good fight before ending up at 210/7, with India winning by 30 runs in the end.
The Indian batting line-up was close to what could be seen in the World Cup, with Ishan opening with Abishek Sharma.
The Men in Blue retired their couple of batters in the first innings to offer game-time to other batters, seemingly during the phases of the innings when they would generally come out to bat.
Kishan starred with another stellar knock, this time a 20-ball 53, while Abhishek hit 24 from 18 balls. Kishan, who might also open in the World Cup with Sanju Samson now all likely to be out, was retired out as soon as he got to his fifty.
Tilak Varma stars yet again on return, no Sanju Samson
Meanwhile, Tilak Varma also starred for the senior team after putting up a decent cameo for India A earlier. He made a brilliant 45 from 19 balls, while captain Suryakumar Yadav also scored a fiery 16-ball 30.
Axar Patel, sent in at No.5, scored 35 from 23 deliveries while Rinku Singh came in to bat at No.6 and made a 13-ball 16. Hardik Pandya then provided the finishing touches with his nonchalant 30 from 10 balls.
South Africa give India a run, but were hardly there in chase
The Proteas would be pleased with the batting effort that they put up despite experimenting with their batting order a bit. George Linde was sent to open with Aiden Markram, while Quinton de Kock did not come out to bat. Markram scored 38 from 19 balls before getting retired out, while Rickelton made 44 from 21 deliveries.
Jason Smith put up a contribution of 35 from 23 balls in the middle overs, while Marco Jansen and Tristan Stubbs hit some fiery sixes in the death overs as they took the team close to India's 240 with their 31 and 45, respectively. The Proteas ended 30 runs short in the end.
