Team India has made it to the Super-8 round by winning 4 consecutive matches in the T20 World Cup 2026. Since the last T20 World Cup, the Indian team has won 12 consecutive matches. But now Suryakumar Yadav’s team faces a big challenge. The Indian team’s first match in the Super-8 round is against South Africa, which itself has not lost a single match in this tournament so far. In such a situation, it is expected that this match will be a close contest. To continue its success, the Indian team will have to win this match and for this it has made a black soil plan which can trap South Africa.
This Group-1 match between India and South Africa is to be played on Sunday 22 February at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. This is the first match of both the teams in the Super-8 round. In such a situation, the team that starts with a win is sure to have the advantage. But for victory, along with the good performance of the players, the pitch will also play a big role and this is the trap in which team india Has made preparations to trap South Africa and for this recent experience has been made the basis.
The match will be held on a black soil pitch
A report in Times of India has claimed that the pitch that will be used at Modi Stadium for the India-South Africa match is made of black soil. There is also a red clay pitch on this ground but it will not be used and the reason for this is the choice of Team India. The report claims that the reason for this decision is the Test match played between India and South Africa in Guwahati last year, in which a red clay pitch was used.
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In fact, in red clay pitches the ball gets more bounce, while in others it is less. Team India believes that South African batsmen can play spinners well on a pitch with more bounce, which was seen in Guwahati. On the contrary, it will be difficult for them to face the spinners on the low bounce on the black soil pitch. This is the reason why Team India had practiced on a black soil practice pitch for two consecutive days before this match.
Might the bet on Team India backfire?
But will it affect the match? Will Team India be able to trap South Africa in this trap of pitch? This question has arisen because the final of the ODI World Cup 2023 was played on this ground. In that match also, Team India had expressed its preference regarding the pitch and accordingly some changes were made in the pitch. The benefit of this went to Australia instead of Team India and Team India missed the title in front of more than 1 lakh spectators. In such a situation, will the pitched move backfire again?