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India find themselves in a do-or-die situation in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026, needing to win both of their remaining Super 8 games after suffering a heavy defeat to South Africa. Irfan Pathan shared his thoughts on India’s loss, the team’s inferior net run rate, and the possible tactical changes they could make.
Irfan Pathan reflected on what went wrong for India in their first Super 8 match against South Africa:
“Where do I even begin? As Surya said, India needs to bowl, bat and field better to win the next game. We did not perform well in any of the three departments. What disappointed me the most was that once we had lost four or five wickets, no one tried to stitch together a partnership and take the score close to 150. There was not even one substantial partnership. Everyone wanted to play aggressively, and look at what has happened. We are now far behind on net run-rate. The West Indies and South Africa has gone miles ahead. So, recovering that run-rate is going to be very difficult. Apart from that, I was very vocal about the slower deliveries and variations of the South African bowlers. They used them very smartly, and we had no answer. Whenever they bowled a slower one to any batter, there was no ability to see off that delivery, rotate the strike, or look for a low-risk boundaryoption.”
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On having a right-hander in the top-order:
“I think Surya can bat at number three. If you look at it from the team’s point of view, I completely understand the conservative approach from Surya, especially because Abhishek has been getting out early. In the last game, Ishan Kishan got out in the first over. You do not want to expose Suryakumar Yadav at number three when he is so effective in the middle overs, striking at 160. If something goes wrong with the new ball, just one good delivery can get him out. So, I understand the thinking. However, they still need to consider batting Suryakumar Yadav at number three to break the monotony of having three left-handers at the top.”
On India’s focus to just win the next two games:
“I really hope that approach of playing for net run-rate does not come into play at the start of the game. The priority should be winning the game first. So, perform well and try to win. Only then should you think about the run-rate. If you start thinking about chasing the net run-rate of, say, the West Indies, that is almost impossible. That would mean beating teams like Zimbabwe and the West Indies by a margin of 100 runs, which is not easy in T20 cricket. So, I sincerely hope that when the Indian team plays these next two matches, the main focus is simply on winning first.”
