India and South Africa will lock horns in their firstSuper 8game of the 2026 T20 World Cup on Sunday (February 22). The much-awaited fixture will be played at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad from 7:00 PM IST. The winner of this game will move a step closer to making it to the semi-final while the losing side will have to win its next two fixtures. Ahead of the much-awaited contest, Ashwell Prince spoke exclusively to Times Now. Reacting to Abhishek's poor form in the ongoing ICC event, the South Africa batting coach said that he is a "young" man and will learn in future, adding that they are they are focussed on the whole team rather than individuals.

"I obviously don't want to make too many comments about any individuals in the Indian team. At the end of the day, he's a young man and he will learn that in his cricket career. He will have highs and that will happen a lot more in the future as well, not only once in your life will that happen. But he's a fantastic player and we know how dangerous he can be. But from our side, know, our focus is not on one of the Indian players," Prince said.

Abhishekhasn't scored a run in the 2026 T20 WC. He departed for a golden duck in the first game against the USA. He missed the next game against Namibia. The fans had high hopes from him against Pakistan, but he departed without scoring a run. Abhishek was bowled for a duck by Aryan Dutt in India's last league stage game against the Netherlands.

"They have got a strong lineup. So we have to focus on the whole lineup, the whole team and try and see how we can score one run more than them. That's the goal. So as I say, the focus on the Indian team is not only on one player," the SA batting coach added.

India defeated South Africa in the 2024 T20 World Cup final. Photo: AP

Prince was a member of the South African team that suffered a heartbreaking defeat against Australia in the 2007 ODI WC semi-final. SA have had many heartbreaks since then, with the most recent being the 2024 T20 WC final, where India defeated them in a final-over thriller.

Interestingly, SA haven't had any discussions about that game and they are fully focused on the job at hand. "No, not at all (if they have talked about 2024 T20 WC final). Our meetings have been pretty brief. We try to pay attention to the details, pertaining to the match that's coming up or coming ahead. Of course, it's a big match tomorrow, but so are the matches, the rest of the matches in the Super 8s, against the West Indies who also topped their group, against Zimbabwe who also topped their group. So the three matches as a whole, they will all be tough matches. The focus for now is tomorrow's match against India," he added.

India and South Africa are in the G1 group along with West Indies and Zimbabwe. WI and Zimbabwe topped their respective groups. Zimbabwe surprised one and all by defeating Australia and Sri Lanka in the league stage.

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Rishav Narang is an experienced writer with nine years of experience in sports journalism. He extensively writes on cricket and covers live matches, b...View More

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