‘Batters are struggling’: Sanjay Manjrekar on three areas India can improve upon after T20 World Cup Super 8 loss vs SA

Team India suffered a 76-run loss to South Africa in their T20 World Cup 2026 Super 8 opener in Ahmedabad on Sunday.

Following the loss, the Men in Blue have received criticism from all quarters and now face an uphill task in their bid to qualify for the semi-finals.

India currently have a negative Net Run Rate (NRR) of -0.3800, and not only do they need to beat Zimbabwe and West Indies by big margins, but they also need to hope that the other results go in their favour.

Former India skipper Sanjay Manjrekar has criticised India, and listed three areas where the Men in Blue could improve.

He has also urged Team India to "be humble" and show a quick and steady improvement. India failed to chase down a target of 188 against the Proteas after they were all out for 111 in 18.5 overs.

"So what South Africa have done--and we have to be humble and respect the opposition and in a way thank them--is that they have shown us three areas of improvement that we can still work on and end up getting into the final rounds and hopefully win the title," added the former Mumbai cricketer.

Manjrekar also listed the three areas of improvement for India in their upcoming matches. He suggested that Tilak Varma bat lower down the order because of his recent struggles against spinners.

Tilak has a mediocre strike-rate of 128.40 against spinners in T20Is, and his dot ball percentage is an underwhelming 32.8 in 363 balls. In the ongoing T20 World Cup, Tilak has aggregated just 107 runs from five matches at a strike-rate of 118.88.

"The first area of concern is an obvious one: India is struggling against spin. So how do you solve that? Try to rearrange the batting order in a way that naturally good players of spin are batting up the order, and people like Tilak Varma, who is struggling a little bit, can come down the order," Manjrekar said.

"The other thing which was glaring in this game against South Africa was even the pace bowlers, when they take the pace off, Indian batters are struggling. The captain seemed like the one who struggled most now when the pace is taken off," he added.

Manjrekar also batted for the inclusion of Kuldeep Yadav in the upcoming games. The mystery spinner has played just one game in the ongoing T20 World Cup so far. That was against Pakistan in Colombo on 15 February, wherein he registered figures of 1/14 from three overs.

"The third is an easily solvable problem. When the batting is uncertain, not firing, very often you try and get more batting depth. There's another way to cover that weakness, and that is by having a stronger bowling attack. So get Kuldeep Yadav in," he opined.

He felt that Kuldeep can step up when it matters the most. Varun Chakravarthy, though, endured a disappointing outing against South Africa after he registered figures of 1/47 from four overs. "Varun can have a bad day, as we have seen (conceding 47 runs in four overs). If Kuldeep Yadav had played today, who knows, against David Miller, India could have got a wicket at that time," Manjrekar commented.

India will look to return to winning ways when they face Zimbabwe in Chennai on 26 February. The Suryakumar Yadav-led side will then lock horns with West Indies in their final Super 8 match in Kolkata on 1 March.