India suffered a humiliating 76-run thrashing at the hands of South Africa in their T20 World Cup 2026 Super 8 opener in Ahmedabad on Sunday (February 22).
Opting to bat, South Africa’s David Miller (63 off 35), Dewald Brevis (45 off 29) and Tristan Stubbs (44* off 24) produced stunning knocks to take the team to a formidable 187/7 in 20 overs.
In reply, India’s innings folded for a paltry 111 in 18.5 overs. It was a listless batting display from the hosts as no one beside Shivam Dube (42 off 37) manage to touch 20-run mark.
Marco Jansen (4/22), Keshav Maharaj (3/24), and Corbin Bosch (2/12) made significant contributions with the ball for Proteas, while Lungi Ngidi bowled miserly and gave away just 15 runs from his full quota of four overs.
After the crushing defeat, India skipper Suryakumar Yadav vowed to make a strong come back in the remaining Super 8 fixtures.
“I feel we were always in the game when we started. I think we bowled really well in the beginning, 21 for 3, and the way they batted after that from 7 to 15, I think they batted really well, and then we came back again in the game later on. Overall, if we see, we bowled really well, but we could have batted a little better. My thing is sometimes you’ve got to think, if you’re chasing 180-185, you can’t win the game in the powerplay, but you might lose the game in the powerplay. We lost too many wickets in the powerplay and then we couldn’t have small, small partnerships which we wanted for chasing 180-185, but that’s part of the game. We learn from it, we’ll sit back and then come back stronger,” Surya said at the post-match presentation.
Earlier, Indian pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah delivered a remarkable spell, returning with the figures of 3/15 in his four overs to restrict South Africa under 200. Arshdeep Singh also claimed a couple of wickets.
“I think everyone knows their combination (Bumrah-Arshdeep) has been very lethal. Both of them have played together. If you see today also, both of them bowled eight overs, picked around five wickets and gave around 45-50 runs. If I’m not wrong, I’m not good with numbers. But they bowled really well in partnership and that’s what we want from them. Both are experienced and it’s good to have both of them in our side,” Surya added.
The defending champions will face Zimbabwe in their next Super 8 clash on February 22 at Chepauk, followed by the West Indies on March 1 in Kolkata’s Eden Gardens.
“Hopefully bat well, bowl well and field well (Talking about the plans for the next game vs Zimbabwe). That’s it. We’ll try and keep it simple, play the same brand of cricket which we want to play and nothing changes. I think we’ll come back strong,” the Indian captain concluded.
