Ahmedabad (Gujarat) [India], February 23 (ANI): Following his side's loss in their Super Eight opener against South Africa, Indian skipper Suryakumar Yadav said that his team lost too many wickets in the powerplay and could not get those valuable partnerships. He expressed optimism that the team will come back strong while playing the same brand of cricket they have been playing.

Proteas avenged their loss in the 2024 T20 World Cup final as David Miller's half-century and fiery bowling spells from Marco Jansen and Keshav Maharaj helped them deliver an all-round clinical performance, beating Men in Blue by 76 runs at Ahmedabad and sending their net-run-rate in negatives.

Speaking during the post-match presentation, Suryakumar pointed out that while the team as a whole bowled well, the middle-over consolidation by South Africa, particularly due to David Miller and Dewald Brevis, helped the Proteas. He also noted that the Men in Blue lost the game within the powerplay itself, losing three wickets.

'I feel we were always in the game when we started. I think we bowled really well in the beginning, 21 for 3, and the way they batted after that, from 7 to 15 overs, I think they batted really well, and then we came back again in the game later on. Overall, if we see, we bowled really well, but we could have batted a little better. My thing is sometimes you've got to think, if you are chasing 180-185, you can't win the game in the power play, but you might lose the game in the power play. We lost too many wickets in the powerplay, and then we could not have small, small partnerships which we wanted for chasing 180-185, but that's part of the game. We learn from it, we will sit back and then come back stronger,' he said.

Pointing out the positives, Surya hailed the pace duo of Jasprit Bumrah and Arshdeep Singh for how lethal they were, giving away just 43 runs in eight overs they bowled and picking five wickets.

'I think everyone knows their combination (Bumrah-Arshdeep) has been very lethal. Both of them have played together. If you see today also, both of them bowled eight overs, picked around five wickets and gave around 45-50 runs. If I am not wrong, I am not good with numbers. But they bowled really well in partnership, and that is what we want from them. Both are experienced, and it is good to have both of them on our side,' he said.

Speaking on his side's mantra for the next match against Zimbabwe, Suryakumar said, 'Hopefully bat well, bowl well and field well. That is it. We will try to keep it simple, play the same brand of cricket which we want to play, and nothing changes. I think we will come back strong.'

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)