BREAKING! Star Batters Dropped as South Africa Announce Squad for T20 World Cup 2026

On Friday, January 2, the South Africa Cricket Team announced their squad for the ICC T20 World Cup 2026. The tournament is all set to be played in India and Sri Lanka from February 7 to March 8 across different venues.

With the deadline for the squad announcement approaching, South Africa became the latest to unveil their team. The team will be captained by Aiden Markram but what was the big shock was the snub of Tristan Stubbs and keeper-batter Ryan Rickelton.

Tristan Stubbs, Ryan Rickelton Dropped from South Africa T20 World Cup Squad

Tristan Stubbs has been one of the best T20 batsmen going in world cricket while Tony de Zorzi has retained his place in the team. Also, the addition of Quinton De Kock means Ryan Rickelton misses out. The latter has been on the sidelines since De Kock made his return after early retirement.

Kwena Maphaka and Jason Smith have made the cut into the South Africa squad for T20 World Cup 2026. Smith has been in prolific form in T20s of late and as a result, he got the nod ahead of Stubbs, who has been short of runs in the last few weeks.

South Africa have also boosted their squad with Corbin Bosch, Donovan Ferreira, Marco Jansen and George Linde, who have all retained their place in the team. In the pace bowling department, Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortje, and Kagiso Rabada will be there to provide the much needed experience.

The batting department will see captain Markram leading the charge along with Quinton de Kock and Tony de Zorzi. Young gun Dewald Brevis will also he there and a lot would be reliant on him as well.

South Africa Aiming for Glory in T20 World Cup 2026

South Africa came very close to the T20 World Cup title last time around. They were a force to reckon with in the entire tournament and reached the final, where they locked horns with the Indian Cricket Team in Barbados.

In the final, they looked favourites to win the title because at one stage, they needed 30 runs off 30 balls. But couldn’t finish the match and ended up losing the game by a margin of just 7 runs in the end. However, they have one of the best T20 teams in the world.

This time around, they would be keen to turn around things and go a step ahead from last time to lift the title. With Aiden Markram being South Africa captain for T20 World Cup 2026 and having a great captaincy record, he would want to take his team to the victory and the end the drought of white-ball title for Proteas.

South Africa Squad for T20 World Cup 2026

Aiden Markram (C), Corbin Bosch, Dewald Brevis, Quinton de Kock (wk), Tony de Zorzi, Donovan Ferreira (wk), Marco Jansen, George Linde, Keshav Maharaj, Kwena Maphaka, David Miller, Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortje, Kagiso Rabada, Jason Smith.