South Africa thrash India to end co-hosts’ win streak
AHMEDABAD: South Africa ended India’s 12-match winning streak at the T20 World Cup with a crushing 76-run win in Ahmedabad on Sunday in the opening Group 1 Super Eights match.
After a counter-attacking 63 by David Miller and some late hitting from Tristan Stubbs took South Africa to 187-7, the defending champions were all out for 111 in 18.5 overs, failing badly in their first chase of the tournament.
Left-arm quick Marco Jansen finished with 4-22, while left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj took 3-24 as the South African bowlers exposed India’s fragile batting line-up.
“Great performance. Very different type of wicket to what we’ve had here, so great to see the boys assess that pretty early and adapt their skills to execute their plans,” said South Africa captain Aiden Markram.
India will need to win their two remaining Super Eight games against Zimbabwe and the West Indies to have a chance of qualifying.
But the magnitude of the defeat means they will take a poor net run rate forward and that could prove pivotal if their Super Eights group is tight.
“We bowled really well, but we could have batted a little better,” said India captain Suryakumar Yadav. “Sometimes you’ve got to think, if you’re chasing 180-185, you can’t win the game in the power play, but you might lose it.”
Both teams were unbeaten in group phase and the game was a rematch of the 2024 T20 World Cup final, which India won.
India’s unbeaten run in the tournament had stretched back to their defeat in the semi-final against eventual winners England in 2022.
South Africa struck immediately in India’s chase when Markram opened the bowling and dismissed Ishan Kishan with his off-spin.
Abhishek Sharma got his first runs of the tournament, after three ducks, with a four off Markram to get the 82,000 crowd on their feet in the cavernous stadium.
The joy of Indian fans was short-lived and they were silenced as left-arm quick Marco Jansen had Tilak Varma caught behind for one in the next over and removed the left-handed Sharma for 15.
India needed a partnership but Corbin Bosch dismissed Washington Sundar and Yadav, who toe-ended to midwicket, as the hosts slumped to 51-5.
Left-arm spinner Maharaj took three wickets in one over to dismiss Hardik Pandya (18), Rinku Singh (0) and Arshdeep Singh (one) to shut the door on India.
Shivam Dube made 42 at the end, but it was too little too late and when he fell, off Jansen, last man Jasprit Bumrah followed next ball.
Batting first after winning the toss, South Africa slipped to 20-3 before Miller and Dewald Brevis, who hit 45, put on 97, to guide South Africa to 187-7.
Tristan Stubbs had a late cameo that saw him crash an unbeaten 44 off 24 balls and launch the final two balls of the innings both for six off Pandya.
India’s Jasprit Bumrah took 3-15.
SCOREBOARD
SOUTH AFRICA:
A. Markram c Pandya b A. Singh 4
Q. de Kock b Bumrah 6
R. Rickelton c Dube b Bumrah 7
D. Brevis c Sharma b Dube 45
D. Miller c Varma b Varun 63
T. Stubbs not out 44
M. Jansen c R. Singh b A. Singh 2
C. Bosch c&b Bumrah 5
K. Rabada not out 0
EXTRAS (B-1, LB-2, NB-2, W-6) 11
TOTAL (for seven wkts, 20 overs) 187
DID NOT BAT: K. Maharaj, L. Ngidi
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-10 (de Kock), 2-12 (Markram), 3-20 (Rickelton), 4-117 (Brevis), 5-152 (Miller), 6-158 (Jansen), 7-167 (Bosch)
BOWLING: A. Singh 4-0-28-2 (1w), Bumrah 4-0-15-3, Varun 4-0-47-1 (3w), Sundar 2-0-17-0, Pandya 4-0-45-0 (1nb), Dube 2-0-32-1 (2w, 1nb)
INDIA:
I. Kishan c Rickelton b Markram 0
A. Sharma c Bosch b Jansen 15
T. Varma c de Kock b Jansen 1
S. Yadav c Brevis b Bosch 18
W. Sundar c de Kock b Bosch 11
S. Dube c Ngidi b Jansen 42
H. Pandya c Stubbs b Maharaj 18
R. Singh c Stubbs b Maharaj 0
A. Singh c Stubbs b Maharaj 1
V. Chakravarthy not out 0
J. Bumrah c Markram b Jansen 0
EXTRAS (LB-1, W-4) 5
TOTAL (all out, 18.5 overs) 111
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-0 (Kishan), 2-5 (Varma), 3-26 (Sharma), 4-43 (Sundar), 5-51 (Yadav), 6-86 (Pandya), 7-86 (R. Singh), 8-88 (A. Singh), 9-111 (Dube)
BOWLING: Markram 1-0-5-1, Jansen 3.5-0-22-4, Rabada 4-0-32-0, Ngidi 4-0-15-0 (1w), Maharaj 3-0-24-3 (1w), Bosch 3-0-12-2 (2w)
RESULT: South Africa won by 76 runs.
MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: David Miller
Published in Dawn, February 23rd, 2026