India suffered their first loss in 13 T20 World Cup games after a disappointing 76-run drubbing to South Africa in their opening game of the Super 8s stage.
Jasprit Bumrah (3-15) became India’s all-time leading wicket-taker in the tournament as two of his three wickets helped reduce South Africa to 20-3 after four overs, following their decision to bat first at the toss.
But the imperious David Miller (63 off 35 balls) bailed the Proteas out of trouble, as he propelled his team to a very defendable total of 187-7.
In reply, India limped to 51-5 in the 10th over, while spinner Keshav Maharaj (3-24) took three wickets in the 15th over alone to help consign the tournament hosts to an embarrassing defeat as they were bowled out for 111.
As a result, South Africa take control of Super 8 Group 1, with India now facing must-win matches against Zimbabwe and West Indies live on Sky Sports, to keep their semi-final hopes alive.
Impressive Miller and top order struggles condemn India to first tournament defeat
India’s Jasprit Bumrah celebrates a wicket against Pakistan at the 2026 Men’s T20 World Cup (Associated Press)
A brilliant bowling performance from Bumrah got India off to a fast start with two early wickets. The first – a beautiful delivery nicking the top of Quentin de Kock’s middle stump – was just as impressive as the second, when Bumrah mirrored Arshdeep Singh’s dismissal of Aiden Markram with an excellently deployed slower ball to trick Ryan Rickleton into popping one up for an easy catch at mid-off.
Despite starting a worrying 20-3, South Africa’s top order bounced back – a 97-run partnership between the imperious Miller and Dewald Brevis (45 off 29) got the batting side back on track, before Brevis skied an ill-advised drive to Abishek Sharma at deep midwicket, and Varun Chakravarthy tempted Miller into holing out on the boundary.
The Proteas’ lower order looked to have gone out with a whimper when Bumrah took his third of the game as he caught and bowled Corbin Bosch, but Tristan Stubbs (44no off 24) produced a late flurry of runs, clubbing 20 off the last over from Hardik Pandya to give South Africa a very defendable total of 187-8.
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Highlights of India’s clash with Pakistan at the T20 World Cup in Colombo.
India were then rocked by a quick South African start with the ball – two wickets failling in the first seven balls. Markram tempted Ishan Kishan to a drive to extra cover, where he was caught for a duck, before Tilak Varma was caught behind just two balls later to leave India reeling at 5-2.
Opener Abishek Sharma (15 off 12) was able to notch his first T20 World Cup runs – after three ducks to start the tournament – but was sent packing swiftly once again by Marco Jansen.
Washington Sundar (11 off 11) and captain Suryakumar Yadav (18 off 22) both fell victim to the impressive Bosch, leaving India in real trouble at 51-5 after 9.1 overs.
The day went from bad to worse for India when Maharaj took the wickets of Pandya, Rinku Singh, and Arshdeep in quick succssion, and a late flurry from Shivam Dube (42 off 37) was nowhere near enough to stop India from falling to a heavy defeat in front of a raucous home crowd in Ahmedabad.
