AHMEDABAD: Defending T20 World Cup champions India need “two big performances” to reach the semi-finals after Sunday’s heavy defeat to South Africa, their assistant coach said.
India came into the T20 World Cup as heavy favorites at home but were thrashed by 76 runs in the Super Eights as 80,000 fans at the huge Narendra Modi Stadium were stunned into silence.
In their first chase of the tournament, India’s batting fell woefully short against some disciplined South Africa bowling.
India collapsed to 111 in 18.5 overs in response to South Africa’s 187-7 as their 12-match winning streak in the T20 World Cup came to an end.
The magnitude of the defeat has left India with a desperate net rate of -3.8 and they will likely need to win their last two Super Eight matches convincingly to reach the semi-finals.
If it is less, India will have to rely on a combination of other outcomes that work in its favour.
“I’m very disappointed with the performance,” said Ryan ten Doeschate.
“When you set out to win a World Cup, don’t expect someone to come and hand it to you halfway,” added the assistant coach.
“We’ve made a mistake on a massive scale and now the onus is on this group of lads to turn it around and put in two solid performances.”
India are grouped with South Africa, the West Indies and Zimbabwe in the Super Eight, with the top two advancing to the semi-finals.
The West Indies face Zimbabwe on Monday night in Mumbai in their first match of the Super Eights.
India will face Zimbabwe, a giant killer that has already beaten Australia and Sri Lanka, in Chennai on Thursday.
South Africa will play the West Indies on the same day in Ahmedabad, where Aiden Markram’s team could put a firm foot in the semi-finals with another victory.
‘The cape fell off’
“Obviously, as the group stands, at least four points are needed to go through now, and it will take two great performances and a great recovery from everyone,” Ten Doeschate said.
India’s fragile batting was exposed against an in-form bowling attack led by left-arm quick Marco Jansen, who returned figures of 4-22 in 3.5 overs. Keshav Maharaj took 3-24 with his left arm.
The Indian media attacked the team on Monday morning.
“The night he took off his cape,” read a headline in the newspaper. indian express newspaper.
“Careless India reaches a point of no return,” said the Hindustan Times.
India’s ultra-aggressive opening left-handed pair failed to fire, leaving a shaky middle order to pick up the pieces.
Ishan Kishan was out scoreless against Markram on Sunday, while the world’s top-ranked T20 batsman Abhishek Sharma fell to Jansen for 15, his only runs of the tournament so far after three ducks.
“It’s certainly not panic stations,” said Ten Doeschate, who hinted that there could be discussions over India’s batting line-up.
“If those guys (Ahbishek and Ishan) bat for six overs, the score will be 70-plus,” Ten Doeschate said.
“So can we get them to tone down the way they play and be a little smarter?
“Or do we just let them continue as they are?
“Or do we bring in a right-hander up top and make a change somewhere in the middle?”
Captain Suryakumar Yadav agreed that India needs to use their brain in the first six-over powerplay when only two fielders are allowed in the boundary.
“Chasing 180-185, you can’t win the game in the powerplay, but you can lose it,” he said after his team stumbled to 31-3 after six overs, which became 43-4 a few balls later and then 51-5.
“We lost too many wickets in the powerplay.”
The 2024 champions also have the weight of history against them. No team has ever retained the T20 World Cup and no team has won the trophy at home.
