India beat Zimbabwe by 72 runs to keep semi-final hopes alive

 India beat Zimbabwe by 72 runs to keep semi-final hopes alive

India beat Zimbabwe by 72 runs in a crucial match of the Super Eights in the 2026 T20 World Cup, keeping their hopes of reaching the semi-finals alive. Having escaped the complications of net run rate in the previous match, India's only goal was to win - and they did that with gusto.

India, having lost the toss and elected to bat in Chennai on Thursday (February 26), scored a huge total of 256 runs for the loss of 4 wickets in the allotted 20 overs. This is the second highest team total in the history of the T20 World Cup.

Several batters contributed greatly to India's batting storm. Abhishek Sharma scored 55 runs off 30 balls, Hardik Pandya scored an unbeaten 50 runs off 23 balls, Tilak Verma scored 44* runs off 16 balls. Besides, Suryakumar Yadav scored 33 runs off 13 balls, Ishan Kishan scored 38 runs off 24 balls, and Sanju Samson scored 24 runs off 15 balls.

Richard Engrava, Blessing Mujarabani, Tinotenda Maposa and Sikandar Raja took one wicket each for Zimbabwe.

Chasing a huge target of 257 runs, Zimbabwe was under pressure from the start. They could not keep up with the required run rate. However, opener Brian Bennett fought back brilliantly with one end in hand.

He scored an unbeaten 97 runs off 59 balls with 8 fours and 6 sixes. Despite coming very close to a century, he was accompanied by regrets of not getting a century. In the end, Zimbabwe was restricted to 184 for 6 in the stipulated 20 overs.

For India, Arshdeep Singh took 3 wickets for the loss of 24 runs. Varun Chakraborty, Axar Patel and Shivam Dubey also took 1 wicket each.

Zimbabwe, who had surprised the team by defeating strong teams like Australia and Sri Lanka in the group stage, could not maintain that consistency in the Super Eights. Their exit is certain with one match remaining.

On the other hand, South Africa has already secured a semi-final spot in Group One. After two matches, India and West Indies are tied on two points. As a result, the India-West Indies clash in the final match of the Super Eights is practically a knockout match—the team that wins will get a ticket to the last four.

The equation for India is now clear—if they win the final match, they will make it to the semi-finals.

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