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South Africa crushed India by 76 runs within the Super 8s match of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 on Sunday (February 22) in Ahmedabad.
How can India qualify for T20 World Cup 2026 Semifinals after humiliating defeat against South Africa in Super 8s match. (Picture Credit: AP)
India suffered a humiliating defeat by 76 runs against South Africa of their first Super 8s match of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 on Sunday (February 22). Within the fixture played at Ahmedabad’s Narendra Modi Stadium, India could only manage to attain 111 runs (18.5 overs) in reply to the goal of 188 runs.
The humiliating defeat against the South Africa team led by Aiden Markram on Sunday has hurt India’s possibilities of qualifying for the semifinals of the T20 World Cup 2026.
For India to qualify for the semifinals, Suryakumar Yadav’s men now need to secure big wins over Zimbabwe and West Indies of their remaining two Super 8 matches.
India will face Zimbabwe of their second Super 8s match of the T20 World Cup 2026 on Thursday (February 26) at MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai, and the match against the West Indies might be played on Sunday (March 1) at Eden Gardens in Kolkata.
India’s remaining Super 8 matches of T20 World Cup 2026
| DATE | DAY | AGAINST | VENUE | TIME (IST) |
| February 26 | Thursday | Zimbabwe | Chennai | 07:00 PM |
| March 1 | Sunday | West Indies | Kolkata | 07:00 PM |
If India lose even certainly one of their remaining two matches, then their title defence will come to an end within the Super 8s stage itself since the Men in Blue’s net run rate (NRR) has taken a giant hit after their defeat against the Proteas.
T20 World Cup 2026 Super 8s Group A points table
| POSITION | TEAM | MATCHES | WIN | DEFEAT | NO RESULT | POINTS | NRR |
| 1. | South Africa | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | +3.800 |
| 2. | West Indies | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.000 |
| 3. | Zimbabwe | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.000 |
| 4. | India | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | -3.800 |
For India, opening batter Ishan Kishan faced 4 balls, but he did not open his account within the 188-run chase on Sunday, whereas No. 3 batter Tilak Varma was sent back to the pavilion by Marco Jansen for 1 run from 2 balls.
World No. 1 T20I batter Abhishek Sharma played a knock of 15 runs from 12 balls before Corbin Bosch accomplished an outstanding catch of him despite a collision with Keshav Maharaj.
Indian skipper Suryakumar Yadav, Washington Sundar and Hardik Pandya also struggled to play impactful knocks despite getting a good start.
For the Proteas, Marco Jansen picked up 4 wickets for 22 runs in 3.5 overs, and three Indian batters were sent back to the pavilion by Keshav Maharaj.
February 22, 2026, 22:40 IST
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