India revived their chances of reaching the semi-finals in the crucial Sprite Stage match of the T20 World Cup 2026 by thrashing Zimbabwe by 72 runs with some impressive batting and bowling.
Zimbabwe won the match and invited India ahead of the crucial Sprat Group One match between hosts India and Zimbabwe in Chennai, where the defending champions took full advantage and set the biggest total of the event.
For India, Sanju Samson and Abhishek Sharma opened with 48 runs, but Mozharbani dismissed Samson in the fourth over, but he scored 24 runs off just 15 balls.
Young batsman Abhishek Sharma returned to form and along with Ishan Kishan took the team to 120 for the second wicket. After Ishan’s 38, he also shared a 30-run partnership with captain Surya Kumar Yadav, in which he also completed a half-century.
India’s score reached 150 runs when Abhishek Sharma’s knock of 55 runs came to an end, his innings included 4 fours and 4 sixes, Surya Kumar Yadav departed after playing an innings of 33 runs to score 172.
Hardik Pandya and Tilak Verma’s partnership of 86 runs led India to their highest ever run in the current World Cup, which included Pandya’s half-century and Tilak Verma’s 44 runs.
India set Zimbabwe a tough target of 257 runs to overcome in the allotted 20 overs, without any player from Zimbabwe excelling.
Zimbabwe started slowly in pursuit of a big target, with Brian Bennett and Tedivanshe Marumani putting on 44 runs before Akshar Patel dismissed Marumani with a solo score of 20, after which Devon Myer managed to add just 6 runs.
Captain Sikandar Raza tried his best to keep Zimbabwe’s hopes of victory alive but could only manage 31 runs off 21 balls with two fours and two sixes and when he got out, the team was all out for 144 runs in the 17th over.
Brian Bennett scored 97 off 59 balls with 8 fours and 6 sixes but could not give the team victory, Zimbabwe scored 184 for 6 in 20 overs.
Arsdeep Singh top scored with 3 wickets for India as India booked their place in the semi-finals by easily beating Zimbabwe by 72 runs.
India’s Hardik Pandya was named man of the match for his all-round performance.
It is worth mentioning that India lost the first match of the Spreet against South Africa, the next match will be against West Indies on March 1 in which the team that will reach the semi-finals will be decided.
In Group One of T20 World Cup 2026, South Africa are top with 4 points after winning the first two matches, West Indies are second after winning one of the two matches and got two points with best run rate, similarly Indian team got two points with negative run rate.
