India suffered a major setback in the Super 8 match of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026.
Team India, captained by Suryakumar Yadav, was defeated by the South Africa national cricket team by 76 runs. Following the defeat, captain Suryakumar Yadav clearly stated that the team would bounce back.
Play deteriorated in the powerplay, batting was weak
After the match, Suryakumar said, “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 later in the game.”
He further admitted, “Overall, if we look at it, 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 the small partnerships 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.”
Batting first, South Africa scored 187/7. David Miller scored 63 runs in 35 balls, while Dewald Brevis scored 45 runs. There was a quick partnership of 97 runs between the two.
In bowling, Marco Jansen (4/22), Keshav Maharaj (3/24) and Corbin Bosch (2/12) did not allow India to recover.
India had a poor start. Ishan Kishan was dismissed without scoring. Abhishek Sharma and Tilak Varma also departed in the powerplay. Shivam Dubey did score 42 runs, but the team was all out for 111.
Praise for Bumrah and Arshdeep, next target is victory
Surya praised the bowlers, saying, “I think everyone knows their combination (Bumrah and Arshdeep) has been very lethal. Both of them have played well together. If you look at it today, both of them bowled eight overs, picked around five wickets, and gave away 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 on our side.”
Regarding the next match, he said, “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 we want to play, and nothing changes. I think we’ll come back strong.”
After this defeat, India’s net run rate has dropped to -3.8. To stay in the race for the semi-finals, the team will now have to win its remaining matches at all costs.
