Harmeet Singh for the United States of America. Gerhard Erasmus for Namibia. Saim Ayub for Pakistan. Aryan Dutt for the Netherlands.
When a team wins four matches on the bounce, finding frailties can be an exercise in futility. Yet, in the Indian cricket team, the Achilles’ heel has been laid bare — by Singh, Erasmus, Ayub and Dutt. In all the four group ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2026 stage matches, India have struggled against spinners.
While two of Abhishek Sharma’s three ducks were courtesy of tweakers, he is not the only one who has struggled. Captain Suryakumar Yadav and Tilak Varma have also struggled to spark acceleration in the scoring rate when spinners have been bowling.
Will that trend continue in their first match of the Super 8, where India will face South Africa on Sunday, 22 January?
‘It’s About Playing the Conditions’
The Quint asked this question to Quinton de Kock at the pre-match press conference, where the wicketkeeper-batter revealed that he is not expecting spin from the Ahmedabad surface.
I think it's different. That match (India vs Pakistan) was played in Sri Lanka. I think it's very spin-friendly there. So obviously, it's going to help the offies or any sort of spin there. Coming back here to Ahmedabad, there hasn't been any spin. So, I think it's all about playing the conditions. Whether we open up with the spinners or seamers, who knows? But I'm pretty sure the guys who are looking into it will let us know and we'll just deal with it when the time comes.Quinton de Kock
He further elaborated:
I think it all depends on how the wicket's playing. Obviously if the wicket's not turning, It's obviously easier to play the spin. But yeah, I think Ahmedabad, I think when we felt on these wickets they've been a bit more seamer friendly. The spin has kind of travelled a little bit. So I'm saying that it's all it's all about conditions at the end of the day it's always going to be harder for left-handed batsmen to struggle a bit against a right arm offie if it's spinning so - like I said it's all just on to the conditions, what we deal with.Quinton de Kock
Does Quinton de Kock Have a Point?
The Quint has learned that Sunday’s match will be played on a track made solely of black soil. It is demarcated as pitch number 5, and is adjacent to pitch number four, where South Africa had faced, and beaten, New Zealand.
In that particular contest, eight of the ten wickets were taken by pacers. De Kock’s claim of Ahmedabad not offering any assistance to the spinners, despite being a black soil wicket, can, in fact, be corroborated by revisting the four T20 World Cup matches held so far.
Match 1: South Africa vs Canada — 8 wickets for pacers, 4 wickets for spinners
Match 2: South Africa vs Afghanistan — 9 wickets for pacers, 4 wickets for spinners
Match 3: South Africa vs New Zealand — 8 wickets for pacers, 2 wickets for spinners
Total: 25 wickets for pacers, 10 wickets for spinners
‘There’s a Reason Why Varun Chakravarthy Is the Number 1 Spinner in the World’
Regardless of whether the spin will aide spinners, Varun Chakravarthy remains India’s trump card. With nine wickets in four matches, he is the tournament’s second-highest wicket-taker, but his efficacy lie beyond one particular statistic. Chakravarthy’s economy rate of 5.16 is the lowest among bowlers who have picked a minimum of five wickets, while his average of 6.88 is also the fewest among the top 15 bowlers on the list of leading wicket-takers.
Speaking about the number 1 bowler in T20Is, who also happens to his former teammate at Kolkata Knight Riders, de Kock said:
He's a good bowler, a very good bowler at the moment. And obviously he bowled really well against us in the series, like two months ago. Hopefully the guys have, after that series, just had a little bit more time to have a look at him, speak about how they're going to play against him. So hopefully with their plans it comes off and if it doesn't there's a reason why he is the number one T20 spinner in the world. So we'll have to see what we can do.Quinton de Kock
On whether the three matches they have played in Ahmedabad already will assist South Africa against the co-hosts, he said:
I think it does help quite a bit. We've played a day game and a night game, yeah, so kind of understand the conditions. But I'm saying I think it means too much because the Indian teams played here, through IPLs and a lot of them have played their whole career, so I don't think it plays that much of a difference at the end of the day.Quinton de Kock