India vs Zimbabwe highlights, T20 World Cup 2026: IND beat ZIM by 72 runs in Chennai to keep semis hopes alive

Um, I'm a guy who looked at a lot of positives. I think for me, the positive from today is, the last game, it was 250 and I felt there was a bit of panic and rush in our batting lineup. I always say that you cannot win the game in the first six overs, but you certainly can lose it if you're chasing a big total. Today, I thought we were a lot more composed in the first six overs. We were trying to give ourselves a chance as well. And I thought the way the boys batted compared to the last game is certainly to take a lot of positives and heart from it. And that's what I'll do. (on what they could've done differently with the ball?) Yeah, certainly I think we could have executed our defensive play slightly better as well. I think we ended up going at them with hammer and tongs, and unfortunately there was a lot of mixed execution when we were bowling from all the bowlers. And they ended up getting a lot of those runs. And once the train goes at that, it's hard to bring it back. So I thought, if one thing I would say is, I think we could have executed our defensive plans better. That would have given us a better chance to restrict them to maybe 210, 220. And you never know from there. (on their performance) Batting was, yes, but I think bowling and fielding, no, I think we could have done better there as well. I think, like I said, the last game sort of taught us how to go on about your business when you're chasing a big total. So certainly I saw that today. Listen, we are also a work in progress as well. A lot of youngsters, most of them are playing their first World Cup, first time ever in India for us. Not that I want to use that as an excuse, but certainly the lessons from the last game, from a batting point of view, I thought we took them really well. And you can see how quickly these boys are willing to improve and they showed up today. (on their last game vs South Africa) Certainly the result will take care of itself, but what I'm looking for is definitely a better performance, fielding and bowling. And hopefully we can carry on with our batting performance and it should just keep getting better. So if we can match those three like we did in the qualifying stages, we give ourselves the best chance to win. At the World Cup against the best teams, you need all your three departments to be working hard. And unfortunately, if one lacks, then the game runs away from you. So hopefully in the last game, leave everything on the park and we try and sort out all our three departments and hopefully that gives us the best chance to win the game.

Abhishek Sharma and Hardik Pandya’s blazing fifties and Arshdeep Singh’s impressive bowling effort powered India to a 72-run victory in a do-or-die clash against Zimbabwe in the T20 World Cup 2026 Super 8 Group 1 game at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Thursday.

Chasing a record total of 257, all Zimbabwe could manage was 184/6, where Brian Bennett remained unbeaten on 97. (Read more)

Bennett is playing a sublime innings here. Playing in Sri Lanka in the first phase of the tournament, he showed a different side of himself, but here today on a flatter wicket, he has shown his muscle. Stayed on the backfoot, went deep in the crease, and with his free-swing sent balls into the stands. As we update, Arshdeep Singh has picked uphis third wicket of the evening it is Munyonga who gave himself a bit of room, and Arshdeep Singh nailed his yorker, and the stumps got rattled. Well flurry of wickets for Arshdeep right at the end here.

This is a stunning partnership between Bennett and Raza here. They could have crumbled under the pressure and were bundled out for a lower score, but Bennett is showing some serious mettle in the middle. Raza, who is an experienced campaigner too, is slamming a few. This innings and performance from Zimbabwe will give them a lot of confidence going forward; it will give them the confidence that they can compete with the big boys. Imagine India could only manage about 180, and Zimbabwe would be in this game. Indian bowling in the last couple of games has taken a proper pasting.

Varun Chakarvarthy has picked up Myers here in the middle. The run-rate was growing exponentatly and the batter tried his luck by playing one through mid-wicket, only to end up giving a catch to the fielder over there. A good bowling day for Chakarvarthy after what has happened in the previous game. Where the South African batters were prepared on how to face him and succcedded and today Zimbabwe batters with lesser experience have been decent but not up to the level. Bennett, though, is continuing his good form today.

Jasprit Bumrah has come into the attack and conceded a couple of boundaries, and the final delivery was a superb yorker to Bennett, which did seem like it would roll onto the stumps, but Bennett kicked it out of the way. Anyway, as per changing the role of Bumrah, it must have to do with what has happened in the previous game, when through the middle overs, when the partnerships were blossoming, Surya could not use Bumrah in that passage, who bowled two in the powerplay and was kept two for the end.

Arshdeep Singh has taken the first over for India, and he did hit the right areas. He has bowled nice lines and lengths to start with. There is a bit of swing as the sea breeze is going across the ground. Zimbabwe batters do not have a lot to think about here in the middle. They have to go after every ball as it comes. Hardik Pandya has taken the new ball from the other end. Interestingly, we have seen him go with Arshdeep and Bumrah to start with, but today he went with Hardik. Hardik too can swing the ball both ways and pick wickets.

Hardik Pandya finishes the innings with a six and gets to his half-century. It has been a terrific finish from both Hardik and Tilak. In the end, they have taken India over 250. It is unlikely Zimbabwe will get there, but it is a good game India had. This will give them a lot of confidence going into the next game against West Indies. As per Zimbabwe, they have conceded over 500 runs in this stage of the tournament in this World Cup. They could just could not adapt to the conditions and handle pressure yet again. Do stay with us we will be right back for the second innings.

Tilak Varma is playing a blinder of an innings here. He is 28 runs from just 10 deliveries. Every ball he has faced, he has looked to hit to the boundaries, and he has managed to do it quite brilliantly. He has carrassed a few through square regions and hit into long-on and long-off regions with power as well. As we update 50-run partnership between Hardik and Tilak has come in. This is brutal. India and Zimbabwe, who had their way in the league phase of the tournament, are getting a harsh reality check in this stage of the tournament.

It is a good wicket to have. Abhishek Sharma was just starting to open up and accelerate further, also from the perspective of young Moposa, he had a horrible day, but that wicket will give him good confidence when he comes back for this third spell. Zimbabwe clearly are looking out of its depth here yet again after what has happened against Zimbabwe. They have not been able to execute their skills well sometimes, and at times the Indian batters have been too good. Even when the batters made an error with the shots fielders dropped the catches on few occasions.

Ishan Kishan has fallen here, and it is Sikander Raza who got the wicket the ball before he slapped him for a boundary, and then he pulled the length back, and Kishan tried to play a cut shot through point and ended up giving the catch to third-man inside the ring. It was a bit of a soft dismissal, but he did the job. Did Ishan Kishan here. Suryakumar Yadav has walked into the middle and opened his account with a boundary and Abhishek Sharma at the other end too has gone past 50. Altough there has been a full of wicket India are in a pretty good position here.

That is a brutal powerplay for India, they have slammed 80 runs. Abhishek Sharma, who has been charging down the track from time to time during various games in this tournament, has stayed at the crease and played the ball all around the park this time around. Zimbabwe had a horrid time against the West Indies, and it does seem like they will be having another long evening here. Ishan Kishan who has walked into the middle at three too has started quite nice here getting some lovely boundaries away.

Maposa has come into the attack here; it is his first game. He has come into the side in place of Creamer, who is a decent spinner. It is a bit of an odd decision from Raza to drop a surface he mentioned it was a tactical change by him. Both Indian openers have gotten off to a good start here, they have put on the best opening partnership in this World Cup, which is 28, before which tells the story of how this tournament has gone for them so far. Samson has been the key contributor here early in the piece he is playing some lovely shots.

The national anthems are done the crowd is buzzing here in Chennai. India is batting. The pitch here has usually been good for batting, and India will be hoping to put on a good total. With the West Indies losing their game against South Africa, India just have to win two in two to qualify for the semi-finals.

Happy with the decision, were looking to bat first. Boys are ready. Mood in the camp is relaxed. The way he spoke in the huddle (Hardik), experienced player, he knows what he brings to the table. Team required that and I think we'll have a good day tonight. Even if you win or lose, you learn something out of it. Just forget what happened in the last game. Play the same way as you've been playing last whole year. Enjoy the game and forget everything. Be fearless. Two changes: Axar comes in for Washington, Samson comes in for Rinku. Sanju will keep.

Tadiwanashe Marumani(w), Brian Bennett, Dion Myers, Ryan Burl, Sikandar Raza(c), Tony Munyonga, Tashinga Musekiwa, Brad Evans, Tinotenda Maposa, Blessing Muzarabani, Richard Ngarava

There is a nice cool breeze coming across my shoulder, which is probably the coolest conditions you get in Chennai at this time of the year. The wicket is smack bang in the middle, so from a dimensions perspective it is even square — 67 metres on both sides — and a good 77 metres straight down the ground. Players don’t really care about the boundary rope, though; they just look for the stands. It’s a black soil pitch with enough in it for the bowlers to work with in terms of slowness. It’s not the green tinge we saw in the previous game between Afghanistan and New Zealand, but the batters are still going to have a good time and will be happy with the kind of score they put up. What has really worked here are slower balls. If the fast bowlers give it good revs into the pitch, it tends to grip and stop on the batter. With the square boundaries being quite big, it gives them plenty of room to work with. Ideally, if you don’t get above 170, you’ll be struggling because this pitch has been excellent for batting and one of the higher-scoring surfaces in this World Cup so far. It’s a must-win clash for both sides, and it will be fascinating to see who comes out on top.

"Before the tournament started—I thought they were the team that were just going to slide under the radar, and I think they've continued to do that again. I think what's helped them was that they won, but that super close win over Afghanistan—the super over game—I just think they should not have won that game. 100%, they should have lost in real time and then in the first super over, but I think what that did was just give them a little bit of a kick up the backside."

"You definitely expect them to beat Zimbabwe—and again, no disrespect to Zimbabwe, they deserve to be in the Super 8—but I expect India to beat them comfortably. The one that's going to be an absolute beauty is against West Indies. West Indies are playing their best cricket at the moment. They are strutting. They have got a brilliant team and they believe in themselves. I think that game could be the one that dictates what second team qualifies from that group."

“I think they have to bring him (Axar Patel) back. You need that experience,” Shastri said. “I would say play both (Patel and Sundar). Give yourself that extra option. Because on a given day, you're bound to have one bowler who's going to have an off day. Like for example, Varun Chakravarthy on Sunday. He was not at his best and he paid the price for it. If Axar Patel is playing, he might be batting at No. 8. You have Hardik Pandya at No. 5, you've got Shivam Dube at No. 6, you've got Washington Sundar at No. 7. Axar can go at No. 5 as well.

“Listening to the commentary (for the India vs South Africa game), the reason Axar didn’t play is because of the left handers in the opposition side. But there's still some right handers there. It just comes down to the art of the captain of being able to use Axar at the right time,” Ponting said on the latest episode of The ICC Review.

"They would have learned from the last experience that they're not going to take things for granted because in the Super-8 if you lose one more (match), then you're really putting yourself under serious pressure," Shastri commented.

Played: 13

India won: 10 (win percentage of 76.92%)

Zimbabwe won: 3

No Result: 0

The playing surface of the Narendra Modi Stadium has been known to provide a good batting track for the batters. The pitch is expected to offer good bounce which is conducive for the Indian batters who are more accustomed to these types of surface where they can swing through the line. Earlier, the deck used to be a paradise for spinners but lately, it has changed dramatically with high scores of 180-200 the norm here.

"With the field and his plan to bowl wide to (Dewald)Brevis, Dube showed that he wanted to be very defensive. Nobody bowls defensively in the 10th over. You looked to attack and try to take a wicket at that time. According to me, Dube is a batter; he is not an all-rounder. We don't need an all-rounder who bowls at 120 kph. He might take an odd wicket but will always go for runs. He can even concede four sixes in an over against West Indies," Kaif said on his Youtube channel.

"I think we've also got a lot of [bowling] options. And that's probably one of the advantages of the Zimbabwe line-up. We've got [a] left-arm seamer, right-arm seamer. We've got a couple of leg spinners. We've got an off-spinner. We've got a left-arm offie. So, we do have obviously quite a lot of depth. And I think it will probably just come down to what are the match-ups depending on the batters that are out there at the time."

Brian Bennett, Tadiwanashe Marumani (wk), Dion Myers, Ryan Burl, Sikandar Raza (c), Tony Munyonga, Tashinga Musekiwa, Brad Evans, Graeme Cremer, Richard Ngarava, Blessing Muzarabani