T20 World Cup Groups Explained: Who Can Reach Super 8
For both teams, Friday’s encounter looks like the clearest opportunity to leave this tournament with something to celebrate.Canada shared the Arun Jaitley Stadium with champions India on Wednesday. The co-hosts led an optional practice session on one side of the ground while the Canadians completed a marathon four-hour clean session under the lights.The UAE, meanwhile, had a rest day scheduled.With India vs Namibia as the main venue on Thursday, the UAE had to shift their training base to the Palam A Stadium, about 18 km from the Arun Jaitley Stadium, to complete preparations ahead of Friday’s match.Both sides suffered winless and unbeaten warm-up campaigns in their World Cup openers: Canada against South Africa and the United Arab Emirates against New Zealand.
United Arab Emirates inflict historic 10-wicket defeat on New Zealand in tournament opener (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A.)
Still, the Canadian camp was open about what they took away from the experience.“It was a good experience. We had two warm-ups in Italy and one against South Africa. We tried different combinations in the warm-ups,” Saad Bin Zafar told TimesofIndia.com on the sidelines of their match at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Wednesday.“The game against South Africa was obviously the first game of the World Cup against such a big country. Top nation. So there were some nerves. We played a decent game now. So the nerves have settled a little bit.”For Canada, the UAE clash represents a real opening.“So the UAE match is very important for us. They are both associate countries. So it’s an equal opportunity for both of them to get their first World Cup win. So we are taking it very seriously and looking forward to it. Hopefully we can win and open our points table,” added Bin Zafar, the 39-year-old all-rounder who is looking to put his years of experience to good use during the rest of the campaign.
Canada’s Navneet Dhaliwal (left) and Harsh Thaker run between the wickets during the T20 World Cup cricket match between Canada and South Africa in Ahmedabad, India. (Photo by AP)
20-year-old Canadian all-rounder Ajayveer Hundal feels the 57-run defeat to South Africa only boosted his confidence.“I think the biggest thing for affiliate teams is that we’re not exposed to that level of competition all the time,” he said. “It’s quite a similar South African team to the one that reached the final, in the previous edition… the biggest thing people took away from this game was confidence. We’ve faced it once. We know what to expect now. And we’re looking to capitalize on the next one.”READ ALSO: Exclusive | From Ice Hockey to Youngest Talents 2026 FIFA World Cup T20: Ajayveer Hundal ‘feels great’ in DelhiAhead of the clash between the two associate nations, Bin Zafar, under whose leadership Canada regained ODI status in 2024, restores what the associate nations lack: “The only difference is that we don’t have enough opportunities to play cricket regularly against good countries. We only get that opportunity on the World Cup stage.”“We can compete better with Test playing nations if we get more opportunities because there is not much difference in skill level.”