In a high-stakes ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2026 Super 8 clash at Ahmedabad's Narendra Modi Stadium, India find themselves in early trouble chasing South
Africa's 187.
South Africa posted a competitive 160, setting up a tense chase under lights. India's top order crumbled dramatically. The Indian batting lost three wickets in the first five overs, and then a couple of more within the first ten overs.
India face another Batting Collapse
Opener Ishan Kishan fell for a golden duck, caught by Ryan Rickelton off Aiden Markram's bowling in the fourth ball. Abhishek Sharma fought back with 15 off 12 (2x4, 1x6), but Marco Jansen struck twice, first snaring Tilak Varma for 1, caught by Quinton de Kock, then dismissing Abhishek via a superb catch off Corbin Bosch.
Captain Suryakumar Yadav and Washington Sundar briefly held the fort at the crease as the asking rate continues to pile up. And Washington departed soon after scoring 11 runs, while Surya departed for 18, leaving India 51 for 5 in the chase.
South Africa chose to bat first after winning the toss, which saw them post a competitive 187/7 in 20 overs.
They suffered an early collapse, slumping to 20/3 in the powerplay, with Jasprit Bumrah (3/15 in 4 overs) and Arshdeep Singh dismantling the top order-including Quinton de Kock, Markram, and Ryan Rickelton. A strong recovery followed through a 97-run stand between Dewald Brevis (45) and David Miller who scored 63 runs. Tristan Stubbs also scored a superb unbeaten 44 in the end off 24 balls.
Despite Bumrah's economical masterclass restricting momentum, contributions from Brevis, Miller, and Stubbs lifted SA to a challenging total on a pitch favoring batters. India now chase 188, but are reeling at 26/3 early in their reply.
IND vs SA: India Fans unhappy with Batting Collapse
India have yet again suffered a batting collapse as three wickets have been lost in the first five overs. Ishan Kishan got his first duck of the season, while Tilak Varma could only manage 1 run. Suryakumar Yadav also departed for 18 off 22 as India are currently tottering at 51 for 5 in the 10th over.
Abhishek Sharma is trying to hard to recreate 2024 Kohli. This scammers should stick to IPL only.#T20worldcup
- Dave (ARTETA OUT) (@AFC_Dev17) February 22, 2026
ABHISHEK SHARMA KINDLY HAVE SOME MATCH SENSE.
- Sahil Grover (@groversahil511) February 22, 2026
PATHETIC!!#ALWAYSINDIA 🇮🇳🇮🇳#INDvsSA#T20WorldCup
Remove Tilak Varma with Sanju Samson
- Adarsh (@AdarshUniverse) February 22, 2026
The fans have started to demand Sanju Samson for the next matches. Abhishek Sharma has so far scored 15 runs in four T20 World Cup innings, which warrants a change as per the fans.
Another failure for Abhishek Sharma.
Five consecutive failures and he’s still in the team. Why?
If this was Sanju Samson, whole social media would’ve thrown him out of the squad already. pic.twitter.com/DeFoZq9RKG- Abhishek Kumar (@Abhishek060722) February 22, 2026
Why not give Sanju Samson a chance? Instead of Abhishek Sharma, they could have selected Sanju, right? #JioHotstarTamil #INDvSA #TeamIndia
- Arunkumar R (@ArunkumarR5203) February 22, 2026
Fans have also questioned Suryakumar Yadav and Gautam Gambhir for dropping Axar Patel in favour of Washington Sundar. Axar, who is also the vice-captain, has been left out of two matches now despite not doing much wrong. On the day, Washington bowled two overs and conceded 17 runs in his two overs without a wicket, and then scored 11 with the bat.
"Gautam Gambhir is single-handedly destroying India's World Cup chances with these ridiculous experiments. Axar out, Washington in. This isn't coaching, it's chaos. Fans deserve better than his ego games," a fan wrote on X.
🚨 Gautam Gambhir and Suryakumar Yadav used to do lots of experiments before the T20 World Cup, so we could understand that they were planning for every possible thing to be ready for the World Cup.
- Tejash (@Tejashyyyyy) February 22, 2026
But now there is a need for experiment and dropping vice captain and most… pic.twitter.com/Fa1RsR2ppI
Agar kisi ko drop karna hai agale game me to Suryakumar yadav ko karo.#INDvsSA
- Krushna Gadhave (@GadhaveG97368) February 22, 2026
