New Delhi: In the Super-8 round of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026, India faced Zimbabwe on Thursday (26 February) at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. In this match, the Indian team won by 72 runs. In the match, the Indian team had given Zimbabwe a target of 257 runs to win, but it could only score 184 runs for 6 wickets. Indian team will now have to defeat West Indies to reach the semi-finals. The India-West Indies match is to be played in Kolkata on March 1. With the victory of the Indian team, South Africa reached the semi-finals. Whereas Zimbabwe is out of the race for the semi-finals.
Zimbabwe had a good but slow start in Ranches. Brian Bennett and Tadivanashe Marumani added 44 runs in 6.2 overs. Akshar Patel broke this partnership by dismissing Marumani (20 runs). After this, Varun Chakraborty sent Dion Myers to the pavilion on a personal score of just 6 runs. From here there was a partnership of 72 runs for the third wicket between captain Sikandar Raza and Brian Bennett. Raza contributed 31 runs on 21 balls with the help of 2 sixes and 2 fours. Sikandar Raza was dismissed by Arshdeep Singh in the 17th over of Zimbabwe’s innings. Arshdeep then sent Ryan Burl to the pavilion with the score of 0. After this, Arshdeep also hunted Tony Munyonga, who could score only 11 runs.
Such were India’s innings
Batting first after losing the toss, India scored 256 runs for 4 wickets, which was the highest score of any team in this World Cup. Indian team had a good start. Sanju Sassaman and Abhishek Sharma together added 48 runs for the first wicket. Sanju was out after scoring 24 runs. Sanju was caught out by Blessing Muzarabani by Ryan Burl. From here Ishan Kishan and Abhishek Sharma together made a partnership of 72 runs for the second wicket. During this partnership, Abhishek completed fifty in 26 balls. In the current World Cup, Abhishek has crossed the 50 mark for the first time.
India’s second wicket fell in the form of Ishan Kishan (38 runs), who was caught by Sikandar Raza at the hands of Richard Nagarwa. Shortly after Ishaan was out, Abhishek Sharma also started walking on the ball of Tinotendo Maposa. Abhishek scored 55 runs in 30 balls with the help of four sixes and four fours. Captain Suryakumar Yadav showed a stormy style and scored 33 runs in 13 balls, which included 3 fours and 2 sixes.
Richard Nagarwa took the wicket of Suryakumar Yadav. From here, Hardik Pandya and Tilak Verma added unbeaten 84 runs to take India to a huge score. Hardik scored unbeaten 50 runs on 23 balls with the help of four sixes and two fours. Whereas Tilak played an unbeaten inning of 44 runs on 16 balls, which included four sixes and three fours.
What changes took place in the playing 11 in the IND vs ZIM match?
In this match, there were changes in the playing 11 of both the teams. Rinku Singh and Washington Sundar remained out of this match. Sanju Samson and Akshar Patel were entered in their place. Tinotenda Maphosa entered the Zimbabwe team in place of Graeme Cremer.
Zimbabwe’s playing 11: Brian Bennett, Tadivanashe Marumani (wicketkeeper), Dion Myers, Ryan Burl, Sikandar Raza (captain), Tony Munyonga, Tashinga Musekiwa, Brad Evans, Tinotendo Maphosa, Richard Ngarwa, Blessing Muzarabani.
India’s playing 11: Sanju Samson (wicketkeeper), Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Tilak Verma, Shivam Dubey, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah and Varun Chakraborty.
Chepauk ground in Chennai was earlier famous for spinners, but in this World Cup it has proved to be the best ground for batsmen. Here both the average and strike rate have been high. The fast bowlers have had to struggle the most here. On Thursday, a black soil pitch will be used, on which New Zealand had achieved the target of 183 runs in just 17.5 overs.
India and Zimbabwe had met only once before in the T20 World Cup in 2022, when India won by 71 runs due to Suryakumar Yadav’s innings of 61 off 25 balls. For the first time, Zimbabwe has played a T20 International match against the host team in India. The last encounter between the two teams in India was in an ODI in 2002.
India vs Zimbabwe head to head (in T20)
India’s dominance is clearly visible in the 13 T20 International matches played between India and Zimbabwe from 2010 to 2026. India won 10 matches and lost only 3, giving its win percentage at 76.92. Whereas Zimbabwe got only 3 wins and had to face 10 defeats, its winning percentage was 23.07. No match between the two teams was tied or inconclusive. A total of 1 match has been played between India and Zimbabwe in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, in which India won. This match was played in Melbourne on 6 November 2022.
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