India has never suffered such humiliation in the World Cup before.

India’s soaring campaign in the T20 World Cup came crashing down as South Africa handed them a crushing 76-run defeat, leaving the team staring at records of ignominy that it had never encountered before.

At Narendra Modi Stadium, India experienced a bitter first: their heaviest defeat in a T20 World Cup match. Until now, the team had never lost a T20 World Cup game by more than 50 runs. Their previous largest margin of defeat was 49 runs against Australia in 2010 under Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s leadership.

While India has endured larger margins of defeat in T20 internationals—most notably an 80-run loss to New Zealand in Wellington in 2019—the loss against South Africa ranks as their second-worst ever in this format.

The defeat also brought an end to India’s formidable winning streak in T20 internationals. Since losing to England in the 2022 T20 World Cup semifinal, India had won 12 consecutive matches—a record streak for any team in T20 World Cups.

Another streak came to a halt as well. Before this match, India had claimed 17 consecutive victories in ICC men’s limited-overs tournaments following their defeat to Australia in the 2023 ODI World Cup final. South Africa’s dominance ended that run decisively.

Despite the team’s collective disappointment, Jasprit Bumrah achieved a personal milestone. With his latest haul, he now has 33 wickets in T20 World Cups for India, surpassing the previous record of 32 held jointly by Ravichandran Ashwin and Arshdeep Singh.

However, India’s batting woes continued unabated. In this tournament, Indian batters have been dismissed for zero on 11 occasions, the highest for any team in this edition. This also marks India’s personal record for the most ducks in a single T20 World Cup, surpassing six ducks in 2024.

South Africa’s chase was clinical. After losing 3 wickets for just 20 runs, they accelerated brilliantly in the middle overs. Between overs 7 and 16, South Africa scored 111 runs for the loss of 2 wickets—an over-segment only bettered by New Zealand, who made 116 against Canada in this tournament. Remarkably, this also equals India’s own record for the highest runs conceded in the middle overs of a T20 World Cup innings, first set against Australia in the 2007 semifinal.

Key Records Set or Broken

India’s encounter with South Africa is likely to be remembered as one of the most humbling in their T20 World Cup history—a stark reminder that even the mightiest teams can be brought to their knees.