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India kept their T20 World Cup 2026 semi-final hopes alive with a 72-run win over Zimbabwe in Chennai on Thursday.
India kept their semifinal hopes alive with a 72-run win over Zimbabwe in their second Super 8 match of the T20 World Cup 2026 in Chennai on Thursday. The win means that Suryakumar Yadav's men are placed third in the Group 1 points table, behind West Indies and table topper South Africa.
India win over Zimbabwe also meant South Africa book their semifinal spot with four points two two games. Earlier on the day the Aiden Markram-led side had defeated West Indies in Ahmedabad. England (in group 2) were the first team to qualify for the semifinals.
The loss means that Zimbabwe are out of the semifinal race in the ongoing T20 World Cup. They play South Africa in their final encounter of the tournament. India will play their game in the Super 8 in Kolkata against West Indies on March 1 at the iconic Eden Gardens.
T20 World Cup 2026 Super 8 Group 1 points table
| South Africa (Q) | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | +2.890 |
| West Indies | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | +1.791 |
| India | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | -0.100 |
| Zimbabwe (E) | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | -4.475 |
How can India qualify for T20 World Cup 2026 semis?
- With Zimbabwe eliminated from the T20 World Cup, India’s match against West Indies is a virtual quarter-final, with the winner advancing to the semifinals. Zimbabwe’s loss confirmed South Africa’s (1st place, 4 points) qualification, which mean that either India or West Indies will join them.
- Should India lose their final match against West Indies, then the defending champions will get knocked out and West Indies will advance to the semifinals. This also means that the Net Run Rate (NRR) will not come into play anymore, which means India need not worry about their -0.100 NRR.
Who advances if India vs West Indies gets washed out?
- In case of a rain washout between India and West Indies, both teams will get a point each. That means both India and West Indies will get stuck on three points each, forcing the NRR to come into play. In case of a washout, West Indies will go through to the semifinals, owing to better NRR than India's.
What happened during IND vs ZIM?
On Thursday, India were asked to bat first after Zimbabwe won the toss. Playing in front of his
Their only setback in the first half of the innings was the dismissal of Sanju Samson, who was out in the fourth over. Samson was included in the playing XI in place of Rinku Singh. However, the Kerala batter failed to capitalise on the opportunity despite getting off to a brisk start.
Abhishek Sharma, on the other hand, returned to form after a few disappointing performances. The Punjab batter was dismissed for a duck thrice in this tournament, before scoring 15 runs against South Africa.
Apart from Abhishek, Hardik Pandya (50*) too scored a half-century as the Suryakumar Yadav-led side posted a mammoth total of 256/4 on the board. Zimbabwe had a mediocre powerplay in the chasing, posting 44 runs for the loss of a wicket during this phase.
Brian Bennett was their standout batter whereas skipper Sikandar Raza (31 runs from 21 balls) also played a valuable knock. However, majority of the other batters failed to turn up for Zimbabwe, who had beaten Australia and Sri Lanka earlier in the tournament. The African side were eventually restricted to 184/6.
Remaining matches in Group 1 (both on March 1)
Zimbabwe vs South Africa at Arun Jaitley Stadium, New Delhi (3 PM IST)
India vs West Indies at Eden Gardens, Kolkata ( 7 PM IST)
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