Miller, Jansen power South Africa to thumping victory over India to kickstart their Super Eights campaign

Match Overview

India and South Africa locked horns in the 43rd match, their first of the Super Eights of the ICC T20 World Cup 2026, at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Sunday, February 22. South African captain Aiden Markram won the toss and elected to bat first.

India had a dream start as Arshdeep Singh and Jasprit Bumrah sent the top order back by the end of the fourth over with just 20 runs on the board. But, the joy for the home team was short-lived as David Miller and Dewald Brevis counterattacked. The next three overs yielded 32 runs as the South African innings came back on track. The partnership was soon worth 50 runs as the Proteas reached 84/3 at the halfway mark.

Importantly, the duo found ways to deal with Varun Chakravarthy very effectively as India were looking clueless in the middle overs. However, Shivam Dube's slower ball deceived Brevis in the 13th over as the right-hander was caught in the deep, bringing India a much-needed breakthrough. Meanwhile, Miller continued to play in the same vein and brought up his ninth T20I fifty off just 26 balls.

Tristan Stubbs, who joined Miller, played in the same manner as Brevis as South Africa looked like scoring more than 200 runs with six overs to go. But, India made a comeback of sorts courtesy Chakravarthy and the pacers. Despite that, the last-over heroics of Stubbs which yielded 20 runs off Hardik Pandya carried South Africa to an imposing 187/7.

Just like the Proteas, India too had a terrible start to their chase. The man in form Ishan Kishan perished for a four-ball duck with Tilak Varma following suit three balls later. The Indian batters were struggling to time the ball and that kept Abhishek Sharma fairly quiet as well. Eventually, the southpaw succumbed to pressure and was caught brilliantly by Corbin Bosch.

India ended the powerplay at 31/3 and needed a fourth-wicket partnership like South Africa's. However, that was not to be the case. The home team lost two more wickets not long after and without adding many runs on the board, reaching the halfway mark 57/5.

Pandya and Dube joined each other but the pair could not accelerate. The writing appeared to be on the wall as the required run rate crossed the 15 runs-per-over mark. The pressure produced three more wickets in quick succession as the Men in Blue were 88/8 in 15 overs. South Africa completed the formalities soon as India succumbed to a heavy 76-run defeat.

Top run-scorer of the match

Top wicket-taker of the match

Player of the Match

David Miller

Miller came out to bat at number five when his team was in deep trouble at 20/3. But the southpaw shirked away any nervousness that was there by going after the bowlers immediately. The 36-year-old played a typical Miller innings as the Indians were unable to stem the run flow. Significantly, the veteran toyed with Varun and nullified his threat. All in all, it was Miller's counterattack which boosted South Africa and helped them overcome India comprehensively.

Turning Point

The third-wicket partnership between Miller and Brevis turned the whole game on its head. The duo proved to be the saviours of the Proteas tonight as the 97-run stand off 51 balls changed the momentum big time. The timing of the partnership was crucial as a wicket or two around the six-over mark would have taken India way ahead in the game. But, that was not to be as the game was dominated by the Men in Green almost throughout thereafter.

What the captains said

Winning Team Captain, Aiden Markram (SA)

"Great performance. Very different type of wicket to what we have had here, so great to see the boys assess that pretty early and adapt their skills to execute their plans. We are really pumped for the bowling group. They have been working hard, started the comp a bit tough, but the way they rocked up tonight was a great effort. I think first and foremost was the partnership."

(On Miller and Brevis) The guys were great, put that together for us, steadied the ship and kept us in the game. Conversations towards the back end were that the ball was travelling tonight, felt almost a bit spongy, so it was about finding space where we could run hard, drop the ego and take as much as we could at the back end. They bowled well up front and at the death as well, but I thought our batting through the middle was probably the difference. Good effort in the field. We put two down but not for lack of effort."

Losing Team Captain, Suryakumar Yadav (IND)

"I feel we were always in the game when we started. I think we bowled really well in the beginning, 21 for 3, and the way they batted after that from 7 to 15, I think they batted really well, and then we came back again in the game later on. Overall, if we see, we bowled really well, but we could have batted a little better. My thing is sometimes you’ve got to think, if you are chasing 180-185, you can’t win the game in the powerplay, but you might lose the game in the powerplay. We lost too many wickets in the powerplay and then we couldn’t have small, small partnerships which we wanted for chasing 180-185, but that is part of the game. We learn from it, we will sit back and then come back stronger."

"(Talking about the plans for the next game vs Zimbabwe). That’s it. We will try and keep it simple, play the same brand of cricket which we want to play and nothing changes. I think we will come back strong."