After the defeat to South Africa, Ravi Shastri said, change is necessary and valuable suggestions for Zimbabwe

Former India head coach Ravi Shastri considers the defending champions’ 76-run defeat to South Africa in the T20 World Cup 2026 Super Eights as a timely wake-up call rather than the end of the campaign.

In Ahmedabad, South Africa recovered from 20/3 to reach 187/7 (David Miller 63, Dewald Brewis 45). Chasing, India were all out for 111 in 18.5 overs—Marco Jensen’s 4-22 and Keshav Maharaj’s 3-24 exposed the batting weaknesses when the team was at 51/5 after the fall of early wickets. Shivam Dubey’s 42 runs helped the team, while Jasprit Bumrah’s 3-15 was the only bright spot. The defeat ended India’s 12-match T20WC winning streak and left them with an NRR of -3.8, needing wins over Zimbabwe and West Indies to remain in the semi-finals.

On *The ICC Review*, Shastri sounded hopeful: “Even if you win 12 matches in a row, there will be a bad day. And I’m glad it came early. Maybe this is the change India needed.” He believes that this setback may make them rethink their strategy: “It may also make them rethink their strategy about the team combination going forward… If you lose another match in this Super Eight, you are really putting too much pressure on yourself.”

Shastri advised strengthening the spin options on Indian pitches, and preferred the return of vice-captain Axar Patel for experience: “They have to bring him back… I would say play both of them (Axar and Washington Sundar). Give yourself that extra option.” He emphasized the batting depth—Hardik Pandya at 5, Dubey at 6, Sundar at 7, Akshar at 8—who would provide strong batting, and suggested that Rinku Singh could be left out to include an extra bowler if needed.

With the crucial clash against Zimbabwe in Chennai looming, Shastri stressed the need to adapt quickly to keep semi-final hopes alive.