India bank on prior experience to tackle must-win pressure

For second straight year, second straight World Cup campaign, India finds itself in must-win situation.

After starting the ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2026 campaign with victories over Pakistan and the Netherlands, India slipped to six-wicket defeat to South Africa in a Group A clash on Sunday, June 21.

As a result, they have to win their next two matches, against Bangladesh and Australia, to stay in contention for the semi-finals.

The Indian team is hoping to take lessons from their 2025 ICC Women's Cricket World Cup triumph, when they fought back from the brink before capturing their first women's world title in any format.

"Even in the huddle yesterday, Harman di (captain Harmanpreet Kaur) said this. She said it's not like we haven't been in this situation before," said India all-rounder Shafali Verma said ahead of her team's match against Bangladesh in Manchester on Thursday.

India had emerged from a similar dip in 2025, when they recovered from three defeats on the bounce -- against South Africa, Australia and England-- to qualify for the final four.

"We know we have to win the next two matches, so we are trying to prepare the best we can, trying to find the best way to motivate each other," Verma added.

"We will try and figure out what clicked for us then, and then replicate it."

Four teams in Group A are still in contention for the two semi-final spots. While Australia have won all their matches are sitting pretty at the top with eight points, India, South Africa and Bangladesh are all tied on four points.

India will take on six-time champions Australia in the final group game on Sunday.

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