Team India may have begun their T20 World Cup defence with a victory against the USA, but it didn’t come easy. The defending champions suffered an unexpected top-order collapse on Saturday at the Wankhede
Stadium, only to be rescued by Suryakumar Yadav. While he played a captain’s knock, scoring an unbeaten 84 off 49, the next top-scorer for India was Tilak Varma (25 off 16). More surprisingly, just 4 out of 11 batters could manage double-digit scores against the United States.
India lost four of their top batters inside the Powerplay at a score of 46 – their third lowest Powerplay total in home T20Is. Although Suryakumar scored freely, he lacked support from the other end. And if partnerships are concerned, 41 was the highest for India in their T20 World Cup campaign opener – between Suryakumar and Axar Patel.
While India suffered a horrific collapse, former India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin shared some bizarre statistics on X. After 13 overs, India’s score read 77/6, which is now their 4th lowest total at this stage.
It was also the worst start ever for India at the iconic Wankhede, strangled by a 27-ball boundary drought, from the 5th over to the 10th.
Highlighting the sudden dip, Ashwin wrote, “This is how big a hole we are in right now.”
“We have been pushed back by miles in terms of trends and plans for every batter so far on a slightly different Wankhede surface than what we are used to seeing in IPL,” he added.
This is how big a hole we are in right now.
We have been pushed back by miles in terms of trends and plans for every batter so far on a slightly different Wankhede surface than what we are used to seeing in IPL. #icct20worldcup2026 pic.twitter.com/vLsBznMtX9
— Ashwin 🇮🇳 (@ashwinravi99) February 7, 2026
Surya Explains the Collapse
Indian skipper Suryakumar Yadav demonstrated how to bat on a challenging surface and acknowledged that the batting unit could have been “smarter and better” during their 29-run win against the USA in the opening game of the T20 World Cup on Saturday.
“We cannot brush everything under the carpet, we need to bat much better. After winning, you also get to learn a lot of things. Could have batted better and smarter,” SKY said after winning the player of the match award.
“Only I can tell how much pressure I was feeling, but I had the belief. I knew if I batted till the end, I could make a difference,” Surya said.
Surya noted that the lack of sunlight during the day left some moisture on the pitch, making batting tricky.
“It was a little different wicket. But we knew when we woke up, there was not a lot of sun outside. Curator tried their best. There was not enough sunlight to have the pitch rolled and watered. It did not feel like it was a 180-190 wicket; it was more like a 140 wicket,” he explained.
