South Africa has announced a 15-member squad for the T20 World Cup 2026. Aiden Markram will be the captain, but two dangerous batsmen in the form of Ryan Rickleton and Tristan Stubbs have not got a place in the squad. Kagiso Rabada, who missed the series against India due to injury, has returned to the South African team for the World Cup.

There are some players in South Africa’s squad who will be playing their first T20 World Cup. Kwena Mafaka, Corbin Bosch, Dewald Brewis, George Linde and Jason Smith will be participating in the World Cup for the first time.

Jason Smith’s name in the squad is surprising, because he has experience of only 5 international matches so far. However, in the playoff match of CSAT20 Challenge, he created a sensation in the cricket world by playing a stormy inning of 68 runs in 19 balls. Let us tell you that till now India, Sri Lanka, Australia, Oman and Afghanistan have also announced their respective World Cup squads.

In the 2026 T20 World Cup, South Africa has been placed in Group D along with Afghanistan, New Zealand, Canada and UAE. South Africa will start its World Cup campaign with a match against Canada on 9 February. The T20 World Cup will start from 7 February and the final will be played on 8 March. India and Sri Lanka will be hosting this tournament together.

South Africa’s squad for T20 World Cup: Aiden Markram (captain), Corbin Bosch, Dewald Brewis, Quinton de Kock, Tony De Jorzi, Donovan Ferreira, Marco Jansen, George Linde, Keshav Maharaj, Kwena Mafaka, David Miller, Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortje, Kagiso Rabada, Jason Smith

SQUAD ANNOUNCEMENT

The South African Men’s selection panel has announced the 15-player squad for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026, to be held in India and Sri Lanka from 07 February – 08 March.

T20 International (T20I) captain Aiden Markram will lead the side, which… pic.twitter.com/EqZvYPpCga

— Proteas Men (@ProteasMenCSA) January 2, 2026

The organization of 2026 T20 World Cup is about a month away. The tournament will start from 7th February, while the final match will be played on 8th March. One by one the teams are announcing their World Cup squads. Till now, a total of 5 countries including India and England have declared their squads.

A total of 20 countries will participate in the World Cup, which will be divided into 4 groups of five teams each. The teams finishing in the top-2 of the four groups will enter the Super-8 stage, after which again the eight teams will be divided into 2 groups. The teams finishing in the top 2 of their respective groups in the Super-8 stage will enter the semi-finals. The final of the T20 World Cup will be played on March 8. See here which teams have declared their World Cup squads so far.

Which teams have announced squads so far:

India

Suryakumar Yadav (captain), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Verma, Sanju Samson, Shivam Dubey, Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakraborty, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Rinku Singh.

England

Harry Brook (captain), Rehan Ahmed, Jofra Archer, Tom Banton, Jacob Bethel, Jos Buttler, Sam Curran, Liam Dawson, Ben Duckett, Will Jacks, Jamie Overton, Adil Rashid, Phil Salt, Josh Tong, Luke Wood.

Sri Lanka (Preliminary Squad)

Dasun Shanaka (captain), Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Mendis, Kamil Mishara, Kusal Perera, Dhananjay de Silva, Niroshan Dickwella, Zenith Liyanage, Charith Asalanka, Kamindu Mendis, Pawan Ratnayake, Sahan Arachige, Wanindu Hasaranga, Dunith Wellage, Milan Rathnayake, Nuwan Thushara, Ishan Malinga, Dushmantha Chameera, Pramod Madushan, Mathisha Pathirana, Dilshan Madushanka, Mahesh Teekshana, Dushan Hemantha, Vijaykant Vyaskant, Travin Mathew

afghanistan

Rashid Khan (captain), Noor Ahmed, Abdullah Ahmedzai, Sediqullah Atal, Fazalhaq Farooqui, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Naveen Ul Haq, Mohammad Ishaq, Shahidullah Kamal, Mohammad Nabi, Gulbadin Naib, Azmatullah Umarzai, Mujeeb Ur Rehman, Darwish Rasooli, Ibrahim Zadran,

Reserve Players: AM Ghazanfar, Ijaz Ahmadzai and Zia Ur Rehman Sharifi

oman

Jatinder Singh (captain), Vinayak Shukla, Mohammad Nadeem, Shakeel Ahmed, Hammad Mirza, Wasim Ali, Karan Sonawale, Shah Faesal, Nadeem Khan, Sufyan Mahmood, Jai Odedara, Shafiq Jan, Ashish Odedara, Jiten Ramanandi, Hasnain Ali Shah

Also read:

Afghanistan announces team for 2026 T20 World Cup, Rashid Khan captain; These 15 players got place

The Indian team has been announced for the 2026 T20 World Cup, due to which the exclusion of Shubman Gill was much talked about. Now former Indian cricketer Aakash Chopra has prepared a squad for the T20 World Cup of those players who have not been selected in the original squad of the World Cup. The surprising thing is that Chopra has also kept Shubman Gill out of his 13-member squad. Besides, he has also prepared an alternative playing eleven for the World Cup.

Aakash Chopra handed over the responsibility of opening to Yashasvi Jaiswal and Rituraj Gaikwad. Akash believes that Gaikwad is an excellent batsman, on the other hand, according to him, it is unfortunate that Jaiswal has been dropped from the team despite his explosive batting and being in form. He has also selected KL Rahul, he can also be seen as an opening option.

Shreyas Iyer captain, this batsman in middle order

Aakash Chopra made Shreyas Iyer the captain. He has included 3 wicketkeeper batsmen in his squad in the form of Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul and Jitesh Sharma. Jitesh had made the most of the opportunities he got in the recent T20 series against Australia and South Africa, yet he did not get a place in the actual World Cup squad. Sanju Samson and Ishan Kishan have been selected as wicketkeepers in the real World Cup squad. He has handed over the role of fast bowling all-rounder to Nitish Kumar Reddy. Krunal Pandya will play the role of spin bowling all-rounder in his team.

Return of veteran among bowlers

In the alternate squad for the T20 World Cup 2026, Aakash Chopra has selected Yuzvendra Chahal as the main spinner, who has not played any international match for Team India after August 2023. Apart from Deepak Chahar and Mohammad Siraj, he has selected Bhuvneshwar Kumar for fast bowling. Kumar has 90 wickets in T20, but he has not played any T20 match for the Indian team after November 2022. At the same time, Mohammed Shami, who is out of Team India, has also been given a place in the team by Aakash Chopra.

Aakash Chopra’s alternate squad: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shreyas Iyer (captain), Rishabh Pant, Jitesh Sharma, KL Rahul, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Krunal Pandya, Yuzvendra Chahal, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Deepak Chahar, Bhuvneshwar Kumar.

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Year Ender 2025: These batsmen created a stir in international cricket this year, Shubman Gill number-1; A Pakistani in the top-10