Ahmedabad, Feb. 22 -- Following a thrashing defeat at the hands of South Africa in Super 8 fixture of ongoing T20 World Cup, India's assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate said team management had lengthy discussions before finalising the playing XI, explaining that the decision to leave out vice-captain Axar Patel was purely tactical and based on team balance.

South Africa thrashed India by 76 runs. India also suffered its first defeat in 18 matches in ICC events across white-ball formats since losing the finals of the 2023 World Cup against Australia at the Narendra Modi Stadium.

This was India's second-biggest defeat by runs in all T20 Internationals behind the 80-run defeats against New Zealand in Wellington in 2019. In T20 World Cup hi...