South Africa beat India by the heart in their Super Eights match against India in T20 World Cup 2026 at Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad, on Sunday, February 22. The vast beating of the 2024 contenders was to the effect that the Indians began their Super Eights campaign on a bad footing and the heat is upon them in their other encounters with each match being an absolute must-win match-up among them.
In retrospect, the former skipper of the India Test team, Ajinkya Rahane, faulted the Suryakumar Yadav-led camp with the choice to go with the wrong side because the vice-captain, Axar Patel, was not starting the match and Washington Sundar was playing his first match of the tournament. Another piece of advice that Rahane has given the Indians is to improve on their attentiveness to taking selection calls.
“I’m really surprised Axar Patel is not playing the match. I don’t understand what is happening. Axar has been doing so well for India in different situations. Sometimes when you become too smart, I feel selection-wise that can hamper you,” Rahane discussed during an interaction on Cricbuzz.
“You took Washington Sundar because there are too many left-handers in the South Africa team, but he only bowled two overs. And there is no guarantee that an off-spinner is going to bowl really well against left-handers. We saw what Keshav Maharaj did today against all the top left-handed batters,” he added.
It is worth noting that Washington did not complete even two overs in one of the games where the Proteas used the conditions well to lay the groundwork of 187-7 in the first innings. In the response of India, the all-rounder failed to contribute much and went away with a run-a-ball 11 and the Men in Blue finally lost by a colossal margin of 77 runs.
The next match which will take place on February 26 will be the Indians against the Zimbabwe in a must win at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai. In case of a loss in this match, the reigning champions may be forced to start filling their bags.
