Virat Kohli under fire over brutal scenes in India loss at T20 World Cup

Virat Kohli is copping it from cricket fans after a brutal blunder that helped South Africa secure a shock win over India at the T20 World Cup.

Aiden Markram was left thanking his lucky stars after Kohli dropped an absolute sitter in the deep in South Africa's five-wicket win in Perth on Sunday.

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In reply to India's modest total of 9-133, South Africa were struggling at 3-40 after 10 overs on a tricky batting wicket.

South Africa cracked 16 runs off the next over to signal their intent, but the night looked over for Markram when he struck Ravichandran Ashwin straight to Kohli at deep mid-wicket in the 12th over.

Normally safe as houses under the high ball in the deep, Kohli juggled it twice before it hit the grass, giving Markram a life on 35.

Markram was given another reprieve on 36 when Rohit Sharma missed a close-range run-out chance, with the 28-year-old opener taking full advantage to bring up his half-century off 38 balls, before eventually being dismissed for 52.

David Miller (59 not out off 46 balls) kept the momentum going once Markram departed, crushing Ashwin for consecutive sixes in the 18th before South Africa achieved the victory target with two balls to spare.

"(I had) a bit of luck," a relieved Markram said after the match.

"Sometimes you get the rub of the green and sometimes you don't. At the end of the day you have to be grateful when you do get a bit of luck in the game."

Fans were quick to call out Kohli and Sharma over the brutal blunders that could have swung the momentum in India's favour.

Fans from Pakistan were particularly incensed considering South Africa's win officially ended their chances of advancing to the semi-finals.

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South Africa now have two wins and a no-result to their name, putting them on top of Group 2 and in an excellent position to advance to the semi-finals.

"We're certainly not thinking we've got a foot in the door at the moment," Markram said.

"We've still got a massive game against Pakistan, and then we've got the Netherlands as well. We've seen the teams that have joined the Super 12 stage can beat any team on their day."

India (2-1) remain in a good position to advance as well despite suffering their first defeat of the tournament.

But they will be sweating on the fitness of wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik after he limped off during South Africa's innings with a back injury.

Mohammed Shami was excellent for India with figures of 1-13 off four overs, while Arshdeep Singh snared 2-25.

Earlier, Suryakumar Yadav (68 off 40 balls) survived top-order carnage to lift India to a defendable total.

After winning the toss and electing to bat, India slumped to 5-49 following an inspired spell from Lungi Ngidi (4-29).

Ngidi claimed the key scalps of KL Rahul (9), Sharma, Kohli (12) and Hardik Pandya (2) to rip the heart out of India.

But it was ultimately India's sloppy performance in the field that came back to haunt them.

"Catches win matches, or good fielding wins matches," India paceman Bhuvneshwar Kumar said.

"The catches we dropped or the run out chances we missed ... we knew that if we could have got those chances, things could have been different."

with AAP

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