TOSS | Proteas asked to bat with Tristan Stubbs getting the nod in T20 World Cup opener against Canada

The Proteas have gone with the experience of Tristan Stubbs ahead of Jason Smith for their ICC T20 World Cup opener against Canada at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Monday.

Canada won the toss and elected to insert the Proteas with Quinton de Kock and captain Aiden Markram set to open the batting.

"Looks a pretty good surface. Hopefully we can get off to a good start, get a really good score and take that momentum with the ball," Markram said.

"Fantastic stadium to play at. Looking forward to getting on a good run in Ahmedabad. Big help for sure. People can say what they want about white-ball wickets, but they still vary from continent to continent.

"Really looking forward to starting the World Cup. Obviously, that's the long-term goal to go one step forward, but we have to earn that right. Stubbs plays at number six. Have gone with four seamers and Kesh as the spinner."

Dilpreet Bajwa, captaining Canada for the first time in a T20I, was excited about their first-ever clash against the Proteas.

"Excited to play against South Africa. Happy to play in this stadium. Feels like it's a good batting track. Because of dew we chose to bowl. Let's see how it goes. Had a pre-tour in Sri Lanka. We didn’t get much cricket in Canada, but thanks to our board for arranging the pre-tour," Bajwa said.

"Had very good practice matches against Sri Lanka A. Have three fast bowlers. Saad bin Zafar - left arm spinner, Ansh Patel. Already we rub shoulders with big players in GT20. But this is a World Cup, a big stage, and it’s a great opportunity for them to showcase their talent to the world."

TEAMS

Canada: Yuvraj Samra, Dilpreet Bajwa(c), Navneet Dhaliwal, Nicholas Kirton, Shreyas Movva(w), Harsh Thaker, Saad Bin Zafar, Jaskaran Singh, Dilon Heyliger, Kaleem Sana, Ansh Patel.

South Africa: Aiden Markram(c), Quinton de Kock (w), Ryan Rickelton, Dewald Brevis, David Miller, Tristan Stubbs, Marco Jansen, Corbin Bosch, Kagiso Rabada, Keshav Maharaj, Lungi Ngidi