The situation looked grim around 10.30 pm in Ahmedabad. 100,000 hearts were broken again as India suffered yet another World Cup defeat at the Narendra Modi Stadium. The Indian cricket fan’s ‘khada hu aaj bhi yahi’ moment has come again – twice in a little over two years, at the same venue.
Most walked about half a kilometer to the main road and took the car home. The others – traveling fans – checked into a restaurant, hoping for a warm meal at the end of a disappointing night. Once the food was on the table, dinner was quiet. The hands moved more slowly than usual, heavy with defeat.
The walk from the stadium felt longer than usual. The interviews were short. Some did not speak at all.
But why does it hurt so much in Ahmedabad? It’s just a cricket match after all.
Locals often say that Ahmedabad doesn’t have much entertainment for the younger generation apart from cricket. Once the sun goes down, there are no nightclubs, no alcohol, and not much else in town. Cricket is what brings the evenings together here. And when that kind of defeat happens — especially on a stage like this — it lingers.
IND vs SA, T20 World Cup Super 8: MAIN | SCORECARD
India were beaten by South Africa on Sunday night. Losing by 76 runs after an unbeaten run in the tournament was not only shocking but also a little harsh on a team that had done so well in the lead-up to the tournament.
Still, if one looked closely, the cracks were already visible before the match.
In India Today, we wrote about how the Indian team lived two lives. One who was bullish about what they could achieve and the other who felt quietly trapped by the pressure – that the law of averages would catch up with them sooner or later.
And the law of averages caught up.
But not because of one or two bad moments in the Indian camp. Not because of happiness that suddenly turned its face away.
It was because South Africa had done their homework. Thoroughly. Quietly.
They planned India’s downfall right in front of their noses at the Narendra Modi Stadium.
HOW SOUTH AFRICA FOUNDED THE FALL OF INDIA
Only four South African players turned up for training the day before the match. It was quite surprising considering it was the only night practice they had before the game. It looked casual from the outside. Almost relaxed.
But the reality was that by then South Africa was already ready. Fully prepared.
Two days before the match, while most preferred to stay indoors, South Africa trained in the sweltering afternoon heat. It wasn’t a full training session but the entire protean bowling unit reported to the ground at exactly 2pm. The sun was relentless. The terms were tax. But the bowling group knew they had to put in the hard yards when there was no one around to watch them.
Captain Aiden Markram was the first to take the ball and began to bowl it to assistant coach Albie Morkel in the nets. IND vs SA, T20 World Cup: Aiden Markram bowls in the nets. (Photo: Kingshuk Kusari/India Today)
Markram was looking for a particular delivery – one that would lean back and clip into the left-hander’s stumps. He also tried his stock ball at times, lifting it slightly in hopes of drawing the left-hander into the anti-spin game.
He repeated it. Again and again.
On Sunday night, rehearsal met reality.
As in the nets, Markram opened the South African bowling innings. And just as he envisioned, he managed to pull Ishan Kishan into a fake shot – continuing India’s now familiar trend of one of their openers being dismissed for 0.
Markram was not greedy. He knew he had fulfilled his role. And once that role was done, he didn’t go back to attacking.
It was accurate. It counted. It was enough.
DIFFERENT PACE BECOMES KEY VS INDIA
Once Markram was done, South Africa executed the second part of their plan.
Pacers like Lungi Ngidi were already using the nets to practice their slower balls. Known for his ability to hit a hard length at pace, Ngidi swallowed his ego and prepared for a different role, one that was not about speed but deception.
On Sunday, Ngidi’s first ball was his supply, which he sent down at full pace. From there he started to mix it up – one slower ball after another – making life increasingly difficult for the Indian batsmen.
The surface did not allow a free flow of the pull. And South Africa ensured that India never found a rhythm.
What may have been a bit off the charts was Marco Jansen, who didn’t train that much over the two days. But Jansen’s tall frame and big hands give him a natural advantage in catching the ball.
He bowled the ball on his knee against India. Plus he rolled it like a cutter.
The delivery proved too good for the out-of-form Abhishek Sharma, who skied down with the ball and ended up giving a catch to Corbin Bosch in the outfield.
And even Bosch’s role was not limited to this moment.
The fast bowler with the ability to bowl the heavy ball took the wickets of Washington Sundar and Suryakumar Yadav. He kept his deliveries short, varied his pace between 140 and 120 and ensured that the batsmen were in a constant dilemma – never quite sure whether to commit to their strokes.
Once the first four wickets fell for 43 runs, the match took a sharp turn.
THE DECISIVE HAND OF KESHAVA MAHARAJ
From there, South Africa needed no magic. They just needed discipline. They needed to pounce defensively enough to make their total of 187 seem bigger than it actually was for the batsmen at the back of India’s line-up.
And it was here that Keshav Maharaj played a decisive role.
In networks, Maharaj worked with only two types of supplies. One of them was his stock ball – which he usually brought closer to the tee and varied its flight and arc. The other was flatter and faster, aimed at keeping the ball off the batsman’s arc.
Against the Indian batsmen – Shivam Dube, Hardik Pandya and Rinku Singh – Maharaj initially conceded 22 runs in his first two overs.
It briefly looked like the plan might go awry. But plans are not abandoned after one spell.
Maharaj returned in the 15th over.
And he struck three times.
Hardik Pandya, Rinku Singh and Arshdeep Singh were his victims as Shivam Dube watched from the other end.
Before that end, India needed 102 runs from six overs with five wickets in hand. The equation was steep, but not impossible.
After Maharaja’s end, India needed 100 runs with two wickets remaining.
The match was over!
The ball that caused the damage? Flatter. Just a short length. Inclined from the impact arc. All three Indian batsmen tried to clear the ropes in that over. All three failed.
And each took the long walk back under the ring of fire that hosted 100,000 Indian fans in Ahmedabad on Sunday.
A LONG WALK BACK FROM THE STADIUM
As I returned to my hotel, towards the Sabarmati Ashram, there was a palpable sense of heaviness in the air.
In stark contrast to just a few hours earlier, there was no noise in Ahmedabad. The energy ran out with the result.
The locals didn’t want to talk about cricket at all.
The kebab and biryani shops on the way from the stadium remained empty. No one cared about the street stalls that still had a few Indian jerseys left in stock.
Yes, the water bottle sellers were well paid. The ICC and Gujarat Cricket Association failed to replenish the free water in the stands. People were thirsty. They swallowed as much as they could at that moment.
But the bigger thirst – for an unforgettable World Cup in Ahmedabad – remained unquenched.
When India moved out of Ahmedabad, reality hit. The team is beatable. The pitches in the T20 World Cup 2026 will not offer 300 runs. There’s no escaping it.
The loss of 76 runs meant that India took a significant hit in the run net – -3,800 to be exact.
If fortune goes against India and this group is somehow indecisive, they will be in trouble.
Not because they were having a bad day but because South Africa were plotting their downfall right in front of their eyes and India living in their own world didn’t even see it.
When the lights went up and the noise went up and 100,000 people believed, South Africa simply did what they had already seen happen on the networks.
As Ahmedabad walked quietly home on Sunday evening, South Africa must have been glad to have gone through their script two days earlier.
T20 World Cup | T20 World Cup Schedule | T20 World Cup Points Table | T20 World Cup Videos | Cricket News | Live Score
– The end
Issued by:
Kingshuk Kusari
Published on:
February 23, 2026
