Batters falter as India suffer their first defeat of T20 World Cup 2026

Team India suffered their first loss of the T20 World Cup 2026 as their winning streak halted against South Africa. In a batting collapse, the Men in Blue failed to chase down a 188-run target, folding for just 111 and handing the Proteas a massive 76-run victory.

Winning the toss, South Africa opted to bat first. Jasprit Bumrah and Arshdeep Singh delivered a couple of early strikes to remove Quinton de Kock (6) and Aiden Markram (4) in no time. Bumrah complicated South Africa’s woes by adding another scalp to his tally, dismissing Ryan Rickleton (7).

Wobbling at 20/3, South Africa found a solid anchor in the partnership of Dewald Brevis (45) and David Miller (63). The two motored along to add 97 runs for the fourth wicket as India’s early edge was lost. Shivam Dube got the better of Brevis but that hardly halted the Proteas’ scoring momentum.

Tristan Stubbs stepped in and smashed a 24-ball-44* to keep India under the pump. At the end of 20 overs, South Africa posted 187/7, a total that needed some chasing on a track which had its fair shares of doom. Jasprit Bumrah was the pick of the bowling lot with figures of 3/15 while he also became the leading wicket-taker for India in T20 World Cup history, surpassing Ravichandran Ashwin’s haul of 32 scalps.

With a big number to chase, India’s top-order crumbled quickly. Ishan Kishan (0), Tilak Varma (1) and Abhishek Sharma (15) were gone even before the Men in Blue could come to terms with what they were dealing with. To add to India’s troubles, Washington Sundar (11) and Suryakumar Yadav (18) fell shortly too, reducing them to 51/5.

Hardik Pandya (18) and Shivam Dube (42) came in with a show of resistance but that would eventually buckle under the growing pressure of the asking rate. Once Hardik fell, there was hardly any support for Dube who fought almost single-handedly. At the end of it all, India were bundled out for 111, conceding a defeat by 76 runs. India returns to action on Thursday where they will be playing Zimbabwe.