Chennai. India made a strong comeback in the tournament by defeating Zimbabwe by 72 runs in the Super-8 match of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026. With India’s victory in this match played at MA Chidambaram Stadium, Zimbabwe was eliminated from the tournament, while South Africa confirmed its place in the semi-finals.
Batting first, India scored a huge score of 257 runs. In reply, Zimbabwe could only reach 184/6 in 20 overs.
Arshdeep’s deadly spell
Fast bowler Arshdeep Singh took 3 wickets for 24 runs in 4 overs and broke the back of Zimbabwe’s innings. He put the match in India’s lap by dismissing Sikandar Raza, Ryan Burl and Tony Munyonga.
Brian Bennett’s fighting innings
Brian Bennett struggled for Zimbabwe by scoring unbeaten 97 runs in 59 balls. His innings included 8 fours and 4 sixes. However, he remained three runs away from his century.
For India, local player Varun Chakraborty also bowled well, while Akshar Patel took the important wicket of Tadivanashe Marumani.
power in batting too
This time Sanju Samson got a chance in the playing eleven, who was out after scoring 24 runs. Sanju along with Abhishek Sharma, who was continuously flopping, added 48 runs in 22 balls for the first wicket. After this, Abhishek Sharma (55 runs) along with Ishan Kishan not only took the innings forward but also scored runs quickly.
There was a partnership of 72 runs between the two in the next 7 overs. Ishan Kishan played an inning of 38 runs. Captain Suryakumar also showed good hands and scored 33 runs in 13 balls with the help of 3 fours and 2 sixes.
However, the joy of the match came when Hardik Pandya (50 runs in 23 balls) and Tilak Verma (44 runs in 16 balls) added 84 runs in 31 balls.
With this batting dominance, India also made the highest score of 2026 T20 World Cup and second highest score in T20 World Cup history.
Now a decisive clash with West Indies With this victory, India’s net run rate improved and the team’s campaign got back on track. Now on March 1, the match against two-time champion West Indies at Eden Gardens, Kolkata will be a ‘virtual knockout’. The winner of this match will take a strong step towards the semi-finals.
The margin of victory may have been huge for India, but the need for improvement in the bowling combination was clearly visible. The team management will pay special attention to these aspects before the important match against West Indies.
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