New Delhi: Team India's title defence is hanging by a thread after a series of unconvincing performances at the T20 World Cup 2026. The co-hosts and defending champions entered the Super Eight stage on the back
of four successive wins, but certain issues that were on display in those victories were exposed brutally by South Africa in the Super 8s opener in Ahmedabad on Sunday.
After suffering a massive 76-run loss against the Proteas, the Men In Blue face an uphill task to qualify for the semifinals. West Indies' even bigger win against Zimbabwe in Mumbai on Monday has made India's task all the more difficult.
With both South Africa and the West Indies boasting extremely good Net Run Rates (NRR), and India sitting third with a negative NRR, winning the last two games might not be enough. Winning big will be the mantra for Suryakumar Yadav's men against the last two Super 8 fixtures against Zimbabwe and the West Indies.
But for that to happen, India must fix the biggest issue that has hampered them in the tournament.
India's top order has failed to fire collectively, leaving the rest of the batting line-up play catch-up in almost all the fixtures so far. It's no surprise that India have hit the unwanted milestone of recording the most ducks in the T20 World Cup 2026.
With 11 ducks, India sit on top of the unwanted list of teams with the most ducks in the ongoing marquee event.
As many as eight Indian batters have been dismissed for a duck in the five matches so far.
India's unwanted T20 World Cup duck record
Abhishek Sharma, the world number one batter, has endured a horror outing so far with three ducks to his name. All three ducks (vs USA, vs PAK, vs NED) came in successive matches that he played, with his first run of the tournament coming against the Proteas.
Star all-rounder Axar Patel, who has missed out of the playing XI in the last two matches, has been dismissed for a duck twice (vs NAM, vs PAK) in the tournament.
India's other star all-rounder Hardik Pandya is also in the list. The flamboyant player was dismissed without troubling the scorers against Pakistan.
Other than these three, Shivam Dube, who has been one of the bright spots for India, also features in the unwanted list. He walked back to the pavillion for a nought in the campaign opener against the USA. Fortunately for India, he has found much-needed form in the following games.
India's batting woes hurting title defence charge
Ishan Kishan, who has hit two half-centuries in the tournament (vs Namibia and vs Pakistan), also registered a duck in the clash against South Africa. So did Rinku Singh, who was caught at long-on boundary by Tristan Stubbs for a duck.
Jasprit Bumrah was the third Indian to get out for a duck against the Proteas. The Indian speedster was the last wicket to fall, dismissed on the very first ball he faced in South Africa's famous win.
Varun Chakravarthy is the eighth and the final Indian player on the list. The mystery spinner, who was taken to the cleaners by David Miller and Dewald Brevis, was run out for 0 without facing a ball against the USA.
With two more confirmed matches to go, will India continue to be haunted by the 'Duck syndrome'?
