India suffered a batting failure on Thursday night in Mullanpur as South Africa pulled themselves on level terms just 48 hours after suffering a 101-run defeat in the ongoing five-match T20I series. India opted
to bowl first in the second T20I and ended up conceding a mammoth 213/4 in 20 overs with their bowlers, except Varun Chakaravarthy, enduring a forgettable night.
Chasing the big target was not going to be easy, but on a batting-friendly surface, a star-studded Indian line-up was expected to do the job. However, barring Tilak Varma, the rest of the batters suffered a collective failure as the hosts were bowled out for 162 in 19.1 overs.
A Record Defeat At Home For India
South Africa won by 51 runs to make it 1-1 in the series. The 2024 T20 World Cup runners-up thus created history by becoming the first ever team to beat India in India by a run-margin of 50 or more. They also improved on their previous record of inflicting the biggest defeat on India in their own backyard by run margin. In October 2022, the Proteas had won by 49 runs.
In simple terms, this is India’s biggest T20I defeat (by run margin) at home.
India’s 5 Biggest T20I Defeats At Home (by run-margin)
- December 11, 2025: Lost to South Africa by 51 runs in Mullanpur.
- October 4, 2022: Lost to South Africa by 49 runs in Indore.
- March 15, 2016: Lost to New Zealand by 47 runs in Nagpur.
- November 4, 2017: Lost to New Zealand by 40 runs in Rajkot.
- December 9, 2009: Lost to Sri Lanka by 29 runs in Nagpur.
While the defeat shouldn’t ring alarm bells, the performance of a couple of batters is under close scrutiny. Captain Suryakumar Yadav is in the midst of a slump, having gone 20 innings without managing a half-century. He managed five runs in the second match before being dismissed by Marco Jansen.
The spotlight is also on Suryakumar’s deputy – Shubman Gill, who walked into the side as vice-captain despite not playing T20I for over a year. Ever since his comeback earlier this year, Gill has batted in 14 innings with 47 being his highest score during this period.
What puts Gill under the microscope is the fact that he replaced Sanju Samson as opener. Samson was India’s top run-getter in T20Is last year but was first demoted in the batting order to accommodate Gill before altogether losing his spot to Jitesh Sharma, who is a specialist finisher.
