Ahmedabad, Feb 22
After suffering a crushing 76-run defeat to South Africa in their first Super Eights clash of 2026 Men's T20 World Cup, India skipper Suryakumar Yadav said though the bowlers did their job well, the batting could have been a little bit better.
India's chase of 188 on a slow black soil pitch at the Narendra Modi Stadium never recovered after losing Ishan Kishan, Tilak Varma and Abhishek Sharma in power-play, thanks to some impeccable bowling from South Africa.
By the time the half-way mark of the chase came, India were five down and were bowled out for 111 in 18.5 overs. "I feel we were always in the game when we started. I think we bowled really well in the beginning, 21 for 3, and the way they batted after that from 7 to 15, I think they batted really well, and then we came back again in the game later on. Overall, if we see, we bowled really well, but we could have batted a little better," said Suryakumar in the post-match presentation ceremony.
He also said the early collapse highlighted the importance of preserving wickets early. "My thing is sometimes you've got to think, if you're chasing 180-185, you can't win the game in the powerplay, but you might lose the game in the powerplay. We lost too many wickets in the powerplay and then we couldn't have small partnerships which we wanted for chasing 180-185, but that's part of the game. We learn from it, we'll sit back and then come back stronger."
Suryakumar further praised the bowling efforts of fast bowlers Jasprit Bumrah and Arshdeep Singh, who combined for five wickets and kept South Africa in check early in the game. "I think everyone knows their combination has been very lethal. Both of them have played together. If you see today also, both of them bowled eight overs, picked around five wickets and gave around 45-50 runs.
"If I'm not wrong, I'm not good with numbers. But they bowled really well in partnership and that's what we want from them. Both are experienced and it's good to have both of them in our side.
Looking ahead to India's next match against Zimbabwe, to be played at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai, Suryakumar said the team would stick to its approach
"Hopefully bat well, bowl well and field well. That's it. We'll try and keep it simple, play the same brand of cricket which we want to play and nothing changes. I think we'll come back strong."
- IANS
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