The Indian cricket team beat Zimbabwe by 72 runs in the T20 World Cup 2026 Super 8 match at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Thursday to keep its hopes of qualifying for the semi-finals alive.
In a must-win situation after losing to South Africa in their Super 8 Group 1 opener, India rode on half-centuries by Abhishek Sharma and Hardik Pandya to post 256/4 after being sent in to bat first.
Despite Brian Bennett’s unbeaten 97, Zimbabwe trudged along to 184/6 in 20 overs, never really threatening the target.
The result sets up India’s last Super 8 Group 1 match against the West Indies at the Eden Gardens on Sunday as a virtual playoff, with the winner progressing to the semi-finals.
West Indies lost to South Africa earlier in the day and are now tied with India in the Group 1 standings on two points. The Proteas lead the group with four points and will play Zimbabwe in their final Super 8 game.
Sanju Samson, opening the batting with Abhishek Sharma, took the attack to the Zimbabwe bowlers early on but failed to convert his start into a big score as he was caught in deep midwicket off Blessing Muzarabani for 24.
However, Abhishek Sharma and Ishan Kishan joined forces to sustain the early momentum. The duo took India to 80/1 after six overs – the third-highest powerplay score in this edition of the T20 World Cup.
Abhishek Sharma also brought up his maiden T20 World Cup fifty in 26 balls. Though it was the second-slowest T20I half-century of his career, it was a welcome one for the opener who had managed just 15 runs in four innings in the tournament before this.
Sharma was eventually dismissed for 55 shortly after Ishan Kishan’s knock ended on 38. Indian T20 captain Suryakumar Yadav, though, ensured the wickets didn’t disrupt India’s rhythm and scored a brisk 13-ball 33 to keep the scoring rate over 10.
Hardik Pandya (50 not out of 23) and Tilak Verma (44 not out off 16) then provided the late fireworks to help India post 256/4 – their highest total at T20 World Cups.
It was also the second-highest team total in the tournament’s history after Sri Lanka’s 260/6 against Kenya back in the inaugural edition in 2007. India’s previous highest total in a T20 World Cup was 218 against England in the same edition.
On a surface favouring the batters, India were made to work for their breakthrough.
Brian Bennett and Tadiwanashe Marumani put up 44 for the opening wicket before Axar Patel dismissed the latter for 20 in the seventh over.
Varun Chakravarthy, the world No.1 T20 bowler, removed Dion Myers shortly after, but Bennett battled on to bring up his third fifty of the 2026 T20 World Cup with a six off Jasprit Bumrah.
Zimbabwe captain Sikandar Raza contributed a handy 21-ball 31 before falling victim to Arshdeep Singh.
While wickets proved hard to come by, Zimbabwe never had a real go at the target either. Arshdeep picked up two more wickets towards the end as the Zimbabwe innings tottered to 184/6. Bennett remained unbeaten on 97.
IND vs ZIM, T20 World Cup 2026, Super 8, brief scores: India 256/4 in 20 overs (Abhishek Sharma 55, Hardik Pandya 50; Sikandar Raza 1/29) beat Zimbabwe 184/6 in 20 overs (Brian Bennett 97 not out; Arshdeep Singh 3/24) by 72 runs.
read more: https://www.olympics.com/en/news/t20-world-cup-2026-india-vs-zimbabwe-super-8-group-1-match-report
