Ahmedabad, Feb 22 (IANS) South Africa handing India a 76-run defeat in their Super Eights clash in 2026 Men’s T20 World Cup at the Narendra Modi Stadium on Sunday snapped the defending champions’ 12-match winning streak in the mega event and plunged their semifinal aspirations into serious doubt.

In a rematch of the 2024 T20 World Cup final, the Proteas recovered from early adversity to post 187/7 before dismissing India for just 111 in 18.5 overs. South Africa’s innings appeared to be unravelling when Jasprit Bumrah produced a ferocious opening spell of 2-7 in his first two overs, and reduced the Proteas to 20/3.

Though Bumrah finished with 3-15, and surpassed Ravichandran Ashwin to become India’s all-time leading wicket-taker at T20 World Cups with 33 scalps, David Miller (63) and Dewald Brevis (45) took the game away from India with a breathtaking 97-run partnership off just 51 balls. Tristan Stubbs then hammered an unbeaten 44 off 24 balls to carry South Africa to 187/7.

India’s first run chase in this World Cup began disastrously and never recovered as at the end of the powerplay, they were in tatters at 31/3. Shivam Dube top-scored with 42 but received little support from the middle order, as South Africa’s pace attack was relentless, led by Marco Jansen’s 4-22, varied their lengths and speeds well to annihilate India’s batting line-up.

The heavy defeat leaves India’s path to the semifinals considerably more complicated. The Suryakumar Yadav-led side must now win both of their remaining Super Eights matches to guarantee a place in the final four – against Zimbabwe in Chennai on February 26 and West Indies in Kolkata on March 1.

Should India win only one of those matches, their qualification will hinge entirely on other results and net run rate – a precarious position for a side that arrived at this stage as heavy favourites and defending champions. As of now, India’s net run rate is at -3.8.

A similar situation unfolded for India in 2012 T20 World Cup in Sri Lanka, where a nine-wicket loss to Australia pushed their net run rate into negative and despite two wins, they never recovered enough to get into semi-finals. For India, a tournament that once seemed destined to end in glory on home soil has suddenly taken a dramatically uncertain turn after being totally outplayed by the Proteas.

–IANS

nr/