New Zealand vs Canada, 31st Match, Group D, ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2026 - Commentary

New Zealand and South Africa are through from this group as everyone expected with Afghanistan running them close. Time for us to wrap up our coverage of this one. The toss is just seconds away in the Zimbabwe v Ireland game. Head over there to follow all the action. For now it's bye bye from all of us here.

Daryl Mitchell | New Zealand stand-in captain: He's (Santner) obviously felt a bit poor, but he seems to be improving as the day goes on. But yeah, I think he'll be fine for the next one, I'm sure. (on Yuvraj Samra) Yeah, look, he played beautifully and I think, yeah, on that surface, which looked like a pretty nice pitch to keep them to 170 when a guy gets 110, it was a great effort by our boys. But I take my hat off to him. He played really well. (what was the feeling when they lost Seifert and Allen early?) Oh, look, we back everyone in the side. We obviously got the Bash Brothers up top who do their thing. It's the nature of, I guess, how we try to line up with our team is that we know we bat really deep and everyone can get the job done on the day. (about the surface) Yeah, look, I thought it was a great pitch. I love playing here at Chepauk. Obviously a number of us have been a part of the CSK family here as well over our time. So yeah, we love playing in front of these crowds. (one of Stephen Fleming's home grounds isn't it?) Yeah, he's the mayor or the king or something like that, isn't he? Yeah, look, really excited to get to Colombo tomorrow now and prepare for the Super 8s. It's the first box ticked off that we wanted to achieve in this tournament. And now we'll look forward to the upcoming games.

Dilpreet Bajwa | Canada captain: (on putting up 173 on the board against a top side like New Zealand) We were a bit confident. Of course, we have one bowler short, Kaleem Sana, but we were a bit confident that ball's gonna spin. When Bin (Saad Bin Zafar) and the other guy was bowling, ball was spinning. But yeah, hard luck happened. The one bowler short affected us. (on his 100-run opening stand with Yuvraj) I think we were struggling from top-order. In the last two games, we were losing our four or five wickets in circles. So our plan was to just take in the ground and as much over we can play. And I think, hats off to Yuvraj. He's just youngest player in the World Cup and finishing with a hundred this match. I think very proud moment for him. And I think it's a very proud moment for all Canadians that we had a hundred run partnership by opening pair against one of the biggest team. And I think when you play against these teams that we are lacking as associate and we learned quickly that in the last two games, we were losing wickets, but we planned accordingly and we did well this time. (on whether they felt pressure in the field?) Of course, when we have one bowler short, Kaleem is an experienced bowler. Yeah, we were like a bit thinking about who is gonna bowl because when we got two wickets (in the Powerplay) in circle, like they are the one who were scoring for New Zealand in last two games. And when we got them, but I was looking for options on whom to bowl, but I didn't have it there. So yeah, we lacked a bit. (on Associate nations having done well this World Cup) I feel like we need more cricket against these big teams like full-member nations. When we get that, I think we're gonna compete them. Now we're just competing, but hopefully when we get more cricket against these teams, we'll hopefully beat them. And we've been beating last World Cup, we beat Ireland and we're still looking for one here. But, Canadian cricket, I think people's gonna follow our cricket because of Yuvraj. He's got a hundred and we had a big partnership. So now I think people are gonna follow Canadian cricket too. (on their last group game against Afghanistan) We have our last game, so nothing to lose, always to win. So I think we're gonna go with full stretch and we're gonna do well day after tomorrow, hopefully.

Highest partnerships for NZ in T20Is (any wicket)
184 - Devon Conway, Glenn Phillips vs WI, Mount Maunganui, 2020
175* - Tim Seifert, Finn Allen vs UAE, Chennai, 2026 WC
171* - Martin Guptill, Kane Williamson vs PAK, Hamilton, 2016
146* - Glenn Phillips, Rachin Ravindra vs CAN, Chennai, 2026 WC*

Highest target successfully chased by NZ (T20 WCs)
183 vs AFG, Chennai, 2026
174 vs UAE, Chennai, 2026
174 vs CAN, Chennai, 2026*
167 vs ENG, Abu Dhabi, 2021

The 29 balls remaining is the third-most in a successful 150-plus chase in T20 WC, after 41 for Scotland vs Oman (Tar: 151, North Sound, 2024) and 37 for Netherlands vs Ireland (Tar: 190, Sylhet, 2014).

10 sixes in this innings is New Zealand’s most in a T20 World Cup match.

Most sixes for NZ in T20Is
173 - Martin Guptill
107 - Glenn Philips*
107 - Colin Munro
103 - Finn Allen
101 - Tim Seifert

Glenn Phillips | Player of the Match: (on his blazing knock) I mean, obviously, we got on a bit of a run at the end there, which is fantastic, but I think me and Rach (Rachin) were just trying to stick to our processes, play one ball at a time. Obviously, they got a couple of early wickets, which put us on the back foot a little bit, and, obviously, it just ended how it ended, but the piece was good. (on his attacking batting from the outset today) I think some days you just get balls in your zone a little more often than others. And today happened to be one of those days, I think, for both myself and Rach. It was definitely just about trying to make good decisions for one ball at a time, and that's all that really mattered. And then as we carried on the partnership, it just grew really well. (on Rachin's contribution at the other end) He's fabulous. Obviously, he works incredibly hard on his game and his T20 game's come a long way over the last couple of years. So for him to get some rewards like that for his hard work is fantastic. (on whether the environment in the dugout was a bit different after losing two early wickets?) Absolutely. Obviously, we've been in that position a couple of times in the recent past with both India and then obviously the Afghanistan game. But like it's just one of those things where if the top boys don't necessarily come off, then we've got that middle order to be able to do the job. And some days the top order comes off really well and we don't have to do as much of a job. So it's a real team effort on the whole. (on Yuvraj Samra's knock) Fabulous - really clean striker of the ball, isn't he? And, the way he paced his innings, the way he picked his balls to hit, it was fabulous. I think he's got a long future ahead of him, it was fantastic to see.

14:02 Local Time, 08:32 GMT, 14:02 IST: What a convincing win this is. After a loss to South Africa in their last game, New Zealand come storming back. Not a small chase but they made it look like one. After being 30/2, the partnership of Rachin Ravindra and Glenn Phillips have smashed their way to a win with almost 5 overs to spare. Canada were over the moon when they got Finn Allen and Tim Seifert at the same score. Ravindra came into this game needing a score and he got that. Phillips on the other hand continues his great run here in India. He was outstanding in the recent white-ball bilateral series against India and today he murdered the spinners. His straight hits down the ground were clean and powerful. Even brought out the switch-hit and hit it for six. Canada just wilted under his onslaught. A nice learning experience for them though and they will only get better from here. Stay tuned for the post-match stuff....

Shivam Sharma stays round the wicket.

Time for drinks. This is such a fine partnership. New Zealand nearly there. Glenn Phillips has been brutal.