IND vs ZIM: Nothing will happen by playing Sanju Samson, Team India should change its approach first!

The fate of Team India is to be decided today (26 February) in the ICC T20 World Cup 2026. South Africa and West Indies will clash in the first match of the day. The victory of South African team in this match will make the path easier for India. On the other hand, if West Indies wins, then the Indian team’s hopes of reaching the semi-finals will be further dashed.

After the South Africa-West Indies match, the teams of India and Zimbabwe will face each other. In case of victory of the Caribbean team, Team India will have to defeat Zimbabwe by a huge margin, only then it will be able to hold its breath till the last match. India’s last group match is against West Indies on Sunday. What needs to be done in that match to reach the semi-finals, all those things will have to be decided by the Suryakumar Yadav brigade in today’s match against Zimbabwe.

Also read: New Zealand’s victory over Pakistan wreaks havoc, Sri Lanka also out!

Team India’s reputation at stake

The Indian team looked invincible before the tournament. But the batting collapse in the very first match against America forced the team management to change the approach. Team India is trying to score runs in a fast manner in the powerplay but as soon as the openers are out, they are suddenly going on the backfoot. Runs are becoming dry in the middle overs. Somehow the work was done in the group stage but a strong team like South Africa did not give them a chance to recover from the slow batting in the middle overs in the Super-8 match.

The Proteas team defeated India by 76 runs in Ahmedabad on 22 February. This defeat has put Team India in a ‘do or die’ situation. The credibility of the Indian team is now at stake and it needs to play with the same old mindset as it has been playing for the last two years.

Also read: India’s net run rate can improve, these things will have to be done against Zimbabwe

What will be the benefit of bringing Sanju Samson?

Team India’s top-3 are all left-handed batsmen. By keeping Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan and Tilak Verma in the top-3, the problem has become that the opposition teams are attacking with off-spinners and putting the Indian team in trouble. To deal with this, the Indian team management can bring Sanju Samson back into the playing XI. There is talk that either Tilak Verma or Rinku Singh will be dropped.

Bringing Sanju will create a left-right combination in the top order but it is not a guarantee of victory. If Indian captain Suryakumar Yadav himself fails to run the game better in the middle overs, then he may face defeat again. Tilak Verma and Surya have been asked to play with a new approach amid the T20 World Cup, which has not worked so far. In such a situation, apart from playing Sanju, Team India will also have to control the middle overs during batting, so that there will not be as much pressure on the lower middle order.
     
India’s probable playing XI against Zimbabwe: Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson (wicketkeeper), Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Verma, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dubey, Axar Patel, Varun Chakraborty, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah.