India needs to regroup and find a way forward after its disappointing 1-4 series loss to South Africa ahead of the T20 World Cup, skipper Harmanpreet Kaur said.

India produced another below-par batting display while chasing a modest 156, falling short by 23 runs to cap a one-sided series defeat.

The loss, coming barely two months before the T20 World Cup in England, will be a significant setback.

“Need to sit together as a group and think how to move forward. Disappointing for us, lots of positives and learnings for us,” Harmanpreet said at the post-match presentation.

India had a poor start in the PowerPlay, losing Shafali Verma and Jemimah Rodrigues inside the first four overs, and never really recovered as South Africa kept striking at regular intervals.

“We did well in patches today. In batting, the Powerplay was something that cost us. Didn’t get too many runs and lost two wickets. It’s disappointing, need to keep working hard.”

For South Africa, skipper Laura Wolvaardt once again led from the front with an unbeaten 92 off 56 balls, anchoring the innings despite wickets falling at regular intervals.

Wolvaardt finished the five-match series with 330 runs and has been in the form of her life, registering six fifty-plus scores in her last seven international innings.

“We’ve had massive improvements in all departments in the last couple of months though. It’s been a very good season for that,” she said after being presented with the player-of-the-series award.

On the conditions, Wolvaardt said it was a challenging surface.

“It was a bit of a tough wicket today, but the PowerPlay was awesome. I liked how aggressive we’ve been in the PowerPlay. We thought it might be a flat wicket, but we weren’t surprised it was low and slow. Batting first was the right choice. There’s always things to look at and improve, the catching being one,” she added.

Published on Apr 27, 2026