Team India, led by Suryakumar Yadav remained unbeaten in the T20 World Cup 2026 group stage, winning all four of their matches to enter the next phase of the tournament.
While the defending champions had little difficulty in outclassing their Group A opponents, including arch-rivals Pakistan, South Africa head coach Shukri Conrad believes India are under a lot of pressure, which could prove advantageous for the Proteas in their opening Super 8 fixture at Ahmedabad on Sunday (February 22).
"There's so much scrutiny, especially in a side like India. They're going to be under a lot of pressure to make the semi-finals and obviously go on and make the finals as well. Hopefully, we can expose them and make them vulnerable under that pressure," Conrad said in the pre-match presser.
South Africa toured India for an all-format series last year. While the visitors swept the Test series 2-0, they conceded the ODI and Test series 2-1 and 3-1 respectively.
Conrad acknowledged the tour of India helped his side prepare for the tough challenge. "That tour gave us a really good insight as to what we could be up against. That tour prepped us really well in terms of the hostility, the fervour that's being built up around Sunday, where we could have 130,000 people crammed into the stadium, and they're going to be in blue. But Sunday is just one of the few matches that we have to win to get through, and we're as well prepared as we can be," the coach stated.
"Pressure is a big thing but it's pressure both for us and them. I think we all talk about the pressure of playing against the top side, but we're not quite aware of what the pressures they are under," he further remarked.
Just like India, South Africa will also enter the Super 8 round unbeaten. The Proteas opened their campaign with a 57-run victory against Canada, followed by a double Super Over win over Afghanistan. To prove their title contender credentials, the Aiden Markram-led side defeated New Zealand by seven wickets and ended the group stage with a six-wicket victory against UAE.
