'South Africa broke India’s pride': Saqlain Mushtaq, Shoaib Akhtar celebrate, brutally mock Gautam Gambhir & Co.

India lost their first Super 8 game against South Africa by 76 runs on Sunday at the Narendra Modi Stadium. This was their first loss after 17 matches in the ICC white-ball tournaments. The Proteas bowled out the India National Cricket Team for just 111 runs in 18.5 overs, while they were chasing a target of 188.

After this defeat, former Pakistan cricketers Saqlain Mushtaq, Shoaib Akhtar, and Umar Gul have mocked the India National Cricket Team and believe that South Africa “broke India’s pride” by exposing their batting problems in the T20 World Cup 2026.

"He completely dismantled India" - Saqlain Mushtaq

Former Pakistan head coach Saqlain Mushtaq was in full praise of South Africa National Cricket Team captain Aiden Markram for his excellent leadership qualities and planning against the Indian batters.

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Saqlain Mushtaq said, “South Africa and Aiden Markram’s match planning was excellent. In just one over, he changed the result. All of his plans worked today. He completely dismantled India. Honestly, he broke India’s pride and turned the game around.”

"South Africa targeted Varun Chakravarthy’s four overs"- Umar Gul

Umar Gul also praised David Miller and the other middle-order batters who showcased controlled aggression and read the pitch perfectly, which was suitable for batting. And also showcased that batting first was right after winning the toss. India have just won one toss in the tournament so far, which was in the final game against the Netherlands.

“They survived the powerplay even after losing 3 wickets for 41 runs. But the middle overs are what shape the match. Then the last 3-4 overs are very important to finish strongly. South Africa targeted Varun Chakravarthy’s four overs and exposed that plan. India looked confused about their fifth bowler. Hardik Pandya and Shivam Dube struggled, and even Chakravarthy looked under pressure,” Gul said.

Shoaib Akhtar is critical of India's performances

Shoaib Akhtar critically analysed India’s overall performance too. The former speedster was brutal as he said their batting and bowling failed to handle the pressure in big games like these. Despite winning all the games in the group stages, India have had their problems in the batting.

Especially in the middle overs, they suffered some small collapses. However, against smaller nations it was recoverable, and also they were batting first, and against big sides like South Africa, they failed to convert as they were chasing.

Shoaib Akhtar said, “Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube and the spinners could not sustain pressure. Indian batting was exposed when pressure came. We always say India is a very strong team, but today was the day to show character in the middle order. Their attacking style did not work. Hardik Pandya is not the right choice for the 20th over, and maybe not even for the middle overs.”

The Proteas had a collapse for 20/3, but David Miller and Dewald Brevis came to the rescue, as the former scored a fifty and helped the team to post a massive total of 187 runs. While chasing the Men in Blue, they also had a similar collapse, but no batter played an innings like David Miller, thus they were bowled out for just 111.

Also Read: 'Plan your innings better': India coach fires Abhishek Sharma a strict warning