The Indian national cricket team suffered a heavy defeat by 76 runs against South Africa at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad last Sunday. Chasing the target of 188 runs, the Men in Blue’s batting collapsed and they were bundled out for 111 runs. After this huge defeat, many former players and pundits including Sanjay Manjrekar criticized India’s overloaded left-handed batsmen.
Teams have identified the weakness of Suryakumar Yadav’s side, which is slow balls and spin, especially off spin. The opening batsmen have had to struggle against the off-spinners. However, cricketer turned commentator Sanjay Manjrekar has taken a dig at the Indian batsmen as they were not responsible and had the courage to play big shots when they were struggling at 5/2.
You need players who are not worried about playing big shots – Sanjay Manjrekar
Majrekar also talked about the turning point of the match. He believed that South Africa, after a small collapse at 20/3, David Miller and Dewald Brewis took charge and displayed controlled aggression without taking pressure.
The turning point of the South Africa vs India match was when South Africa actually took the lead after the score was 20/3!
Every subsequent over was high scoring. This way you win by batting first. And for this you need players who are not eager to play big shots after 2/3 wickets fall.– Sanjay Manjrekar (@sanjaymanjrekar) 24 February 2026
Manjrekar said via
Shivam Dubey is the lone star for India.
Except Shivam Dubey, no batsman could score more than 30 runs. The former player scored 42 runs on 37 balls. To reach the semi-finals, India will have to win both their next matches and hope that South Africa wins all its matches in the group stage. The Men in Blue have been one of the favorites to win the tournament.
After the defeat against the Proteas, the India national cricket team’s record winning streak of 17 matches in ICC tournaments ended. This defeat also broke the record of 12 match wins in the T20 World Cup.
However, his performance has not been the best. Suryakumar Yadav’s team will have to give their best performance in the next match against Zimbabwe at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Thursday. Chevron has performed brilliantly in the tournament so far; However, they suffered a crushing defeat against the West Indies on Monday.
Will Sanju Samson get a chance against Zimbabwe?
The India national cricket team may make some changes to the squad, including Sanju Samson to reduce over-reliance on left-handed batsmen, as he can open the innings, and Ishan Kishan will be dropped at three to maintain the left-handed right-handed combination. Then the rest of the batsmen can bat as per the situation.
The India national cricket team will be looking to win their next game by a big margin as their net run rate is on the negative side after the humiliating defeat last weekend. Abhishek Sharma needs to perform well from the start as the aggressive opener has failed to make an impact on the game with three wickets and an innings of 15 runs.
Also read: Suryakumar, Agarkar, Gambhir: Why T20 World Cup 2026 could see them sacked
