India takes on South Africa in the warm up match of the 2026 ICC World T20. Indian captain Suryakumar Yadav won the toss and chose to bat first. Since this is a warm up fixture all players can bat and bowl. But the most important giveaway would be the batting order. When asked at the toss about the openers, Suryakumar Yadav said that Ishan Kishan and Abhishek Sharma will open the batting. This gives a huge hint ahead of the WT20 that Sanju Samson might not find a place in the team. After this news came out fans took it to social media and debated if this was the sign of things to come in the WC.
Ishan Kishan already scored 42 ball century in the 5th T20I against New Zealand and he has firmly put his name for the main wicket-keeper spot in the upcoming WT20. Sanju Samson was in poor form throughout the series and Ishan Kishan now could start in the playing XI for the WT20 after this performance even when all the players are fit and available for selection. In the New Zealand series, Ishan Kishan had scores of 8, 76, 28 and 103.
The pressure was Sanju Samson ahead of this match is very high as his recent form was very poor. In the New Zealand series, he had scores of 10,6,0,24 and 6. After his failure with the bat in the final T20 he was also relived off the wicket-keeping duties as Ishan Kishan took the gloves and was the wicket-keeper for the second innings.
India will begin their campaign against USA on February 7 and they are in Group A. This match will provide them some more practice ahead of the upcoming WT20. Sanju Samson unfortunately is likely to not make it to the XI. India are playing the warm up game against South Africa and it will be interesting to see to see if Washington Sundar will be able to take part in the game and regarding the fitness of Tilak Varma who played for India A just a few days back.
