After their devastating loss to South Africa on Sunday, India, the defending T20 World Cup champions, need “two big performances” to go to the semi-finals, their assistant coach said.
80,000 spectators at the enormous Narendra Modi stadium were startled into silence when India, the clear favorite on home soil going into the T20 World Cup, was crushed by 76 runs in the Super Eights. India’s batting failed miserably against some disciplined South Africa bowling in their opening chase of the competition.
India’s 12-match winning streak in the T20 World Cup came to an abrupt end when they fell to 111 all out in 18.5 overs in response to South Africa’s 187/7. Due to the severity of the loss, India now has a pitiful net run-rate of -3.8 and would probably need to win their next two Super Eight games handily in order to advance to the semi-finals. If not, India will have to rely on a confluence of other favorable outcomes.
“Very disappointed in the performance. When you set out to win a World Cup, don’t expect someone to come and deliver it to you halfway through. We’ve messed up on a grand scale and now the onus is on this group of guys to turn it around and put in two solid performances,” AFP quoted assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate as saying.
In the Super Eights, India is paired with South Africa, the West Indies, and Zimbabwe, with the top two teams advancing to the semifinals. In their Super Eights opener, the West Indies will play Zimbabwe in Mumbai on Monday night.
Zimbabwe, who have previously defeated Australia and Sri Lanka, will be India’s next opponent on Thursday in Chennai. The same day, South Africa takes on the West Indies in Ahmedabad, where another victory by Aiden Markram’s team might guarantee a spot in the semi-finals.
“Obviously with the way the group goes, you need at least four points to get through now, and it’s going to need two big performances and a big bounce back from everyone,” said Ten Doeschate.
With figures of 4/22 from 3.5 overs, left-arm quick Marco Jansen spearheaded an effective bowling attack that exposed India’s vulnerable batting. Keshav Maharaj used his left-arm spin to take 3/24.
A fragile middle order was left to pick up the pieces after India’s ultra-aggressive left-handed opening pair failed to produce. Ishan Kishan was dismissed without scoring against Markram, while Abhishek Sharma, the top-ranked T20 batsman in the world, was dismissed by Jansen for 15 runs, his only runs of the tournament thus far, after three ducks.
Hinting there could be discussions about India’s batting line-up, Ten Doeschate said, “It’s certainly not panic stations. If those guys (Abhishek and Ishan) bat for six overs, the score is going to be 70-plus. So can we get them to temper the way they’re playing and be a little bit smarter? Or do we just let them go on the way they are? Or do we bring in a right-hander at the top and make a change somewhere in the middle?”
India must use their brains in the opening six-over powerplay, when just two fielders are permitted on the boundary, captain Suryakumar Yadav agreed.
“Chasing 180-185, you can’t win the game in the powerplay, but you might lose it. We lost too many wickets in the powerplay,” he stated after his team faltered to 31/3 after six overs, then 43/4 a few balls later, and finally 51/5.
The weight of history is also against the 2024 champions. No team has ever won the trophy at home, and no team has ever retained the T20 World Cup title.
