India vs South Africa, T20 World Cup 2026: Major concerns for Men in Blue against the Proteas

As India get ready to face South Africa in the Super 8 of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2026 today in Ahmedabad, the Men in Blue will be in a mix of confidence and caution. Although the defending champions, India, reached the super eights with an unbeaten record, they were far from a perfect performance in each game of the group stage.

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Here are the growing concerns within the camp before they face South Africa in one of the biggest matches of the Super 8s.

Suryakumar and Tilak under scrutiny

Despite the unbeaten run, cricket experts and fans are pointing to a "red flag" regarding the batting tempo of Suryakumar Yadav and Tilak Varma.

After a shaky start against the USA, where India was struggling at 77/6, Suryakumar played a brilliantly measured innings of unbeaten 84 to rescue the game for India.

However, since then, Suryakumar Yadav has not been able to come out of that severe template even on flatter pitches against weaker opponents. Against Pakistan and the Netherlands, both Suryakumar and Tilak appeared overly cautious and also struggled to rotate the strike in the middle order. Despite Ishan Kishan giving a flying start to the innings, they have failed to keep the momentum.

"Since the USA game, I think he [Suryakumar] is taking that caution a bit too far. In T20 cricket, it’s dangerous when a senior player feels he has to stay in, especially when you have finishers like Hardik Pandya and Rinku Singh waiting. You risk not using your full resources," Sanjay Manjarekar said on the form of Suryakumar and Tilak.

Numbers of SKY & Tilak

Read also: IND vs PAK T20 World Cup full squad comparison.

More concerns for India

While Abhishek Sharma is struggling with three ducks in the tournament, South Africa’s Aiden Markram and Quinton de Kock have been very explosive at the top of the batting order.

So, for India to win the powerplay battle, Abhishek must fire, and after that, Tilak and Suryakumar need to get going quickly.