Even victory in both the matches will not guarantee the semi-finals to the Indian team, is Surya and company certain to be eliminated?

T20 World Cup 2026: In the T20 World Cup, the Indian team remained undefeated in the group stage, but a crushing defeat by 76 runs against South Africa in the first match of Super 8 changed everything. This match played at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad proved to be a big shock for India.

match result

Batting first, South Africa made a strong score of 187 runs for 7 wickets. David Miller played a brilliant inning of 63 runs. In reply, India was all out for 111 runs. Shivam Dubey scored 42 runs, but Marco Jansen (4/22) and Keshav Maharaj (3/24) caused big damage to India. This defeat broke India’s 12-match winning streak.

net run rate crisis

Due to this defeat, India’s Net Run Rate (NRR) fell to -3.800. In Super 8 Group 1, South Africa reached the top with +3.800 NRR, while India is at the bottom. West Indies and Zimbabwe are also in the group, who will play their matches now.

Why is the semi-final difficult despite two wins?

If India wins its remaining two matches against West Indies and Zimbabwe, it will have 4 points, but if South Africa loses even one match, it can reach 4 points. In such a situation, there can be 4 points between three or four teams. Then the top-2 teams in the semi-finals will be decided by NRR.

Let us tell you, India’s NRR is so bad that it will be difficult to recover even after winning by a big margin. Now the team will not only have to win, but will have to win by a very big margin. Also, we have to hope that South Africa or some other team loses.

consequences of wrong strategy

In the match, India did not try to play more overs and bring the score closer instead of getting out early while chasing. The ‘all out or nothing’ thinking further worsened the NRR. Now qualification is not completely in India’s hands.