Like that of Jasprit Bumrah, being back at the Narendra Modi Stadium was a bit of a homecoming for David Miller as well. A pillar of South Africa’s limited-overs batting line-up, Miller has spent three seasons here with the Gujarat Titans from IPL 2022 to 2024.

In the end, it turned out to be a memorable night for Miller, who played a gem of an innings, and his South African teammates. Bumrah and his colleagues, though, would like to forget this performance as quickly as they can as South Africa gave them a 76-run thrashing in their opening Super Eight contest. This was also India’s first defeat in the T20 World Cup since their loss to England in Adelaide in the semi-final of the 2022 edition of the competition.

India capitulated with a capital C during reply to what was a stiff target of 188. Captain Aiden Markram, having bowled decent spells at nets at the start of South Africa’s training sessions ahead of Sunday’s contest, was the first to complement Miller’s effort.

Bowling the very first over of the run chase, Markram pitched one up that gripped a bit on that tricky surface and induced a mistimed shot from the in-form Ishan Kishan, leading to his departure. India lost an early wicket to off-spin, this time off essentially a part-timer, yet again. While for the Proteas, they certainly couldn’t have asked for a better start.

Markram didn’t bowl a single over thereafter. But his teammates — Marco Jansen (4/16), Corbin Bosch and Lungi Ngidi (0/15), who finished wicketless but maintained an economy rate of less than four an over — were almost as good as perfect with their execution on a surface that was two-paced as well. Jansen, Bosch and left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj picked up the wickets, but the man who actually piled on the pressure on the home team was Ngidi.

His string of dot balls, focusing on the slower delivery, kept India captain Suryakumar Yadav quiet before the latter played a loose stroke to perish off Bosch. The struggling Abhishek Sharma tried to hoick almost everything thrown at him. A slower ball from Jansen ended Abhishek's stay at the middle, extending his lean patch.

In other words, South Africa's proper execution with the ball, coupled with injudicious shot selection from some of the batters, left the likes of Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube and Rinku Singh with too much to do.

'Tactical' call

Skipper Surya said at the toss that the decision to continue with Washington Sundar and keep vice-captain Axar Patel on the bench was a "tactical" call. India's plan was to bring Washington early into the attack during the Powerplay to negate as much as possible the threat of Proteas left-handers Quinton de Kock and Ryan Rickelton, which assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate said later.

Washington wasn't required to bowl in the Powerplay as Bumrah had dismissed both left-handers in his first two overs. But with the bat, Washington, who isn't a T20 specialist, contributed just a run-a-ball 11.

Show of solidity

Miller's innings (63 off 35 balls) was more of a retaliation after Bumrah had the Proteas reeling at 20/3 in four overs in the amphitheatre-like atmosphere. The assist from Dewald Brevis and Tristan Stubbs' 20th-over assault on Hardik were also important in the Proteas reaching 187/7 after opting to bat first.

But what seemed to have caught India on the wrong foot was Miller's aggression towards match-winner Varun Chakravarthy, which also made Brevis confident of going after the spinner. Unleashing some breathtaking strokes, Miller and Brevis forged 97 in just 8.2 overs, a counterpunch that eventually hurt India badly, also in terms of their net run rate that reads -3.800