'Play the same brand of cricket': Suryakumar Yadav backs his team despite reality check against South Africa

India captain Suryakumar Yadav has made it clear that the team will not panic despite their heavy defeat in the Super 8 stage of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2026. After losing to South Africa on Sunday, SKY said India will stick to their plans and focus on bouncing back strongly in the next match against Zimbabwe.

India suffered a 76-run defeat against South Africa, a loss that has hurt their Net Run Rate and put extra pressure on the remaining matches before the semi-finals. However, SKY sounded confident during the post-match presentation as he backed his team to make a strong comeback.

“Hopefully bat well, bowl well and field well,” he said while talking about the plans for the next game. “That’s it. We’ll try and keep it simple, play the same brand of cricket which we want to play and nothing changes. I think we’ll come back strong,” Suryakumar added.

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SKY on where India lost the game

SKY also pointed out the main reason why India lost the crucial encounter in Ahmedabad. He said that the team lost too many wickets in the powerplay while chasing, which eventually cost them a win.

"My thing is sometimes you’ve got to think, if you’re 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’s part of the game. We learn from it, we’ll sit back and then come back stronger," he said.

The loss to South Africa exposed a few weaknesses, especially in the batting department. India were bowled out cheaply while chasing a big total, and the bowlers also struggled in the middle overs.

The upcoming match against Zimbabwe now becomes very important for India’s semi-final hopes. A convincing win will not only open their account in the points tally but also improve their Net Run Rate.