Women's T20 World Cup: South Africa hands India their first loss

India fell to their first defeat of the 2026 ICC Women's T20 World Cup, losing to South Africa by six wickets in Manchester on Sunday.

Having opted to bat first in skipper Harmanpreet Kaur's 200th T20I, most of the Indian batters struggled to get going as they posted 158/7 in 20 overs.

Opener Shafali Verma with a 15-ball 31 was the only batter who looked comfortable in the middle, while the rest struggled to put the South African bowlers away.

Veteran pacers Marizanne Kapp (2-27) and Shabnim Ismail (2-28) starred for South Africa, scalping two wickets apiece.

While Kapp's victim included Smriti Mandhana and Richa Ghosh, Ismail sent back Verma and Harmanpreet Kaur.

With a partly total to defend, left-arm spinner Sree Charani waged a lone war for India, scalping three wickets for 24 runs including a double wicket maiden in her quota of four overs.

India dropped Kapp twice in the innings as she went on to play a match-winning unbeaten 45-ball 81 to help South Africa to a comfortable victory with five deliveries to spare.

Kapp took a special liking to the spin of debutant Prema Rawat (0-21) and the experienced Deepti Sharma (0-44) as they finished with economy rate of 10.50 and 11.00 respectively.

The loss for India complicates their path to the semi-finals. They next face Bangladesh and Australia in Group A with both now essentially a must win for the women in blue.