The Black Caps won both their games at this venue — against Afghanistan and UAE — before being handed a seven-wicket thrashing by South Africa in their previous encounter in Ahmedabad.
On paper, Canada shouldn’t trouble the Kiwis, but the defeat to the Proteas exposed some chinks in the armour.
The manner in which New Zealand was outplayed at the Narendra Modi Stadium was quite similar to some of the reverses the team suffered at the hands of India in the recent bilateral series.
One particular issue is the lack of variety in the bowling, which South Africa exploited ruthlessly by chasing down a 176-run target in just 17.1 overs.
However, Kiwi all-rounder Glenn Phillips allayed any concerns about there being a worrying pattern.
“If we didn’t bowl as well as we did on previous days, we look at that and [try] to do better the next day. It’s professional cricket at the end of the day. Sometimes you’re good, and sometimes you’re not. You just hope the gap between the two is a little less each day,” said Phillips.
Meanwhile, Canada’s wicketkeeper Shreyas Movva conceded that his squad had a tough time recovering from the loss to the UAE in its last game. Canada had the UAE at 66 for four in the 13th over defending 150 before letting the game slip away.
“It was not easy to get over that defeat. We need to regroup as a team. We had two practice matches in Chennai, where we batted really well. It’s just that in bowling we need to come up with good plans,” said Movva.
Published on Feb 16, 2026
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