Ahmedabad (Gujarat) [India], February 23 (ANI): India's dominant run in ICC events/multi-nation T20I tournaments came to a painful end as they faced a confidence-shattering 76-run loss to South Africa in the Super Eight stage at Ahmedabad's Narendra Modi Stadium on Sunday.

This failure to chase down 188 means that India has lost their first match in ICC events after 17 matches, since their heartbreaking loss in the ICC Cricket World Cup final at the same venue against Australia back in 2023. After that, a dominant Men in Blue came back with a vengeance under skipper Rohit Sharma, winning the next year's T20 World Cup by going unbeaten for eight matches and capturing last year's Champions Trophy with a five-match unbeaten run.

Their golden run continued in this World Cup, too, with four successive wins in the group stage. But this suckerpunch from Proteas has ended India's golden run.

Also, this is India's first defeat in multi-nation T20I tournaments since their semifinal loss by 10 wickets to England in the T20 World Cup 2022 at Adelaide, which proved to be a catalyst for change in India's cricket style. Since then, the Indian team played 23 matches, winning 21, one ending in a no result and losing just one.

This 76-run loss is also India's biggest defeat in the history of the T20 World Cup by runs, outdoing their 49-run loss to Australia in the 2010 edition while chasing 185 in Bridgetown. This is India's second biggest defeat by runs in all T20 Internationals behind the 80-run defeat against New Zealand in Wellington in 2019.

After electing to bat first, SA was reduced to 20/3. But knocks from David Miller (63 in 35 balls, with seven fours and three sixes), Dewald Brevis (45 in 29 balls, with three fours and sixes) each and a cameo from Tristan Stubbs (44* in 28 balls, with a four and three sixes) took SA to 187/7 in 20 overs, with Jasprit Bumrah being the top wicket-taker for India with 3/15 in four overs.

India faced a top-order collapse from which could never recover, with Shivam Dube (42 in 37 balls, with a four and three sixes) being the only one to cross the 20-run mark as Jansen (4/22) and Maharaj (3/24) sent India's net-run-rate into negatives, leaving them in need of massive wins over their next opponents, Zimbabwe and West Indies. They were skittled out for 111 in 18.5 overs. (ANI)