IND vs SA, T20 World Cup 2026: Star Indian batter Abhishek Sharma has found himself at the receiving end of criticism and trolling as the Men in Blue suffered their first defeat of the ongoing T20 World Cup 2026. South Africa gave an all-around show to defeat the Indian cricket team by 76 runs. This is India’s heaviest defeat in the T20 World Cup history.
For the unversed, Abhishek Sharma, who is known for his explosive batting, has been going through a tough phase in the tournament. He registered three consecutive ducks earlier and even missed India’s match against Namibia due to a stomach illness. His dismissals came against the USA, Pakistan, and the Netherlands.
Heading into this game, fans were hoping for a strong comeback. However, Abhishek once again failed to deliver, getting out after scoring just 15 runs.
IND vs SA, T20 World Cup 2026: Abhishek Sharma Breaks T20 World Cup Jinx, But Fails To Impress Once Again
Abhishek Sharma walked out to open the innings with Ishan Kishan; however, the innings started on a worst-possible note as the latter was dismissed for a four-ball duck. Ishan was caught by Ryan Rickelton off the bowling of Aiden Markram in just the fourth ball.
On the other hand, Abhishek was finally able to break his World Cup jinx but failed to score big. Abhishek Sharma tried to make a comeback with a quick 15 off 12 balls, smashing two fours and a six, but Marco Jansen flipped the tables for India. Jansen first removed Tilak Varma for 1, caught by Quinton de Kock, and then sent back Abhishek thanks to a brilliant catch by Corbin Bosch.
Captain Suryakumar Yadav and Washington Sundar tried to steady things for a while, but the required run rate kept climbing. Sundar was dismissed for 11, and Surya followed soon after for 18, leaving India struggling at 51 for 5 in the chase.
Fans have now begun calling for Sanju Samson to be included in the playing XI for the upcoming matches. Many supporters feel a change is needed, especially with Abhishek Sharma managing just 15 runs across four innings in the T20 World Cup so far.
Check out the reactions of the fans:
Why not give Sanju Samson a chance? Instead of Abhishek Sharma, they could have selected Sanju, right? #JioHotstarTamil #INDvSA #TeamIndia
— Arunkumar R (@ArunkumarR5203) February 22, 2026
Another failure for Abhishek Sharma.
Five consecutive failures and he’s still in the team. Why?
If this was Sanju Samson, whole social media would’ve thrown him out of the squad already. pic.twitter.com/DeFoZq9RKG
— Abhishek Kumar (@Abhishek060722) February 22, 2026
Remove Tilak Varma with Sanju Samson
— Adarsh (@AdarshUniverse) February 22, 2026
ABHISHEK SHARMA KINDLY HAVE SOME MATCH SENSE.
PATHETIC!!#ALWAYSINDIA 🇮🇳🇮🇳#INDvsSA#T20WorldCup
— Sahil Grover (@groversahil511) February 22, 2026
Abhishek Sharma is trying to hard to recreate 2024 Kohli. This scammers should stick to IPL only.#T20worldcup
— Dave (ARTETA OUT) (@AFC_Dev17) February 22, 2026
Agar kisi ko drop karna hai agale game me to Suryakumar yadav ko karo.#INDvsSA
— Krushna Gadhave (@GadhaveG97368) February 22, 2026
🚨 Gautam Gambhir and Suryakumar Yadav used to do lots of experiments before the T20 World Cup, so we could understand that they were planning for every possible thing to be ready for the World Cup.
But now there is a need for experiment and dropping vice captain and most… pic.twitter.com/Fa1RsR2ppI
— Tejash (@Tejashyyyyy) February 22, 2026
