India Defeats South Africa by 30 Runs in T20 World Cup Warm-up Match; Other Practice Games See Close Contests

Mumbai. In a warm-up match during the preparations for the T20 World Cup, India defeated South Africa by 30 runs. Batting first after winning the toss at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai, India posted a massive total of 240 runs for the loss of 5 wickets.

For India, Ishan Kishan smashed a half-century in just 20 balls, while Tilak Varma scored 45, Axar Patel 35, and captain Suryakumar Yadav 30 runs. Chasing the target, South Africa could only manage 210 runs, losing 7 wickets. Tristan Stubbs scored 45 and Ryan Rickelton made 44 for South Africa, but they could not steer the team to victory. Abhishek Sharma took 2 wickets for India.

Other practice matches before the World Cup also saw very exciting contests. In another match held in Bengaluru, Namibia secured a thrilling 6-run victory over Scotland.

Batting first, Namibia set a huge score of 226, with Jan Frylinck contributing 88 runs. Although Scotland's Brandon McMullen played an explosive innings of 95 runs, the team was defeated as they failed to score the required runs in the final over.

Likewise, Afghanistan registered their second consecutive win in the warm-up games by defeating the West Indies by 23 runs. A strong opening partnership between Ibrahim Zadran and Rahmanullah Gurbaz helped Afghanistan post 182 runs, restricting the West Indies to 159.

Meanwhile, the match scheduled between Pakistan and Ireland in Colombo was canceled without even the toss due to rain. This was the only warm-up match for both teams.

Now, Pakistan will start the tournament with their first World Cup match against the Netherlands on February 7, and Ireland will face Sri Lanka on February 8.