The hosts and defending champions India are back on the track for the Semi-finals race in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 after claiming a thumping 72-run win in the high-scoring Group 1 Super Eights fixture against Zimbabwe at Chennai on Thursday night (February 26).
After Zimbabwe chose to field first, India scored 256/4 in 20 overs. Openers Sanju Samson (24 off 15 balls) and Abhishek Sharma (55 off 30 balls) provided a strong start, and then Ishan Kishan (38 off 24 balls) and captain Suryakumar Yadav (33 off 12 balls) strongly handled the mid-innings. Finally, Hardik Pandya (50 not out off 23 balls) and Tilak Varma (44 not out off 16 balls) completely dominated the slog overs.
In reply, Zimbabwe opener Brian Bennett fought hard with his brilliant knock of 97 not out in 59 balls with the help of eight fours and six sixes. However, Zimbabwe only managed to score 184/6 in 20 overs.
With this result, India need to beat West Indies to qualify for the Semi-finals, while Zimbabwe have been eliminated before their last Super Eights fixture against South Africa.
Top 6 Indian batters with 20+ scores
All six Indian batters scored 20+ runs in the first innings.
It was the first time in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup history that all the first six batters scored 20+ runs in an innings.
It was the second time that six players scored 20+ runs in an innings of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup. Earlier, in the ongoing ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026, the Netherlands became the first team to have six batters record 20+ runs in an innings during the match against India.
5 Indian batters with 30+ scores
During the first innings, five Indian batters scored 30+ runs.
It was the first time in the history of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup when more than four batters scored 30+ runs in the same innings.
After Sri Lanka (vs West Indies at Pallekele in 2015) and Austria (vs Luxembourg at Ilfov County in 2019), India became the third team where five batters recorded 30+ scores in the same innings.
Indian innings with 17 sixes
Indian batters smashed 17 sixes in the first innings.
It was the third most sixes record in an innings of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup. The joint highest record is 19 sixes by Netherlands (vs Ireland in 2014) and West Indies (vs Zimbabwe in 2026).
Second highest T20 World Cup total
India scored 256/4 in 20 overs.
India recorded the second-highest total in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup history. The record is 260/6 against Kenya in the 2007 edition.
It was the highest T20I total for any team against Zimbabwe. The previous record was 254/6 for West Indies at Wankhede Stadium in the ongoing T20 World Cup 2026.
India recorded their fifth highest T20I total.
Brian Bennett creates T20 World Cup history for Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe opener Brian Bennett scored 97 runs.
It was the highest score by a Zimbabwe batter in the history of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup. The previous record was 82 by Sikandar Raza against Ireland in 2022.
It was the highest T20I score by a Zimbabwe batter against an ICC Full Member. The previous record was 94 by Solomon Mire against Pakistan at Harare in 2018.
It was the fourth-highest T20I score by a Zimbabwe batter.
Most T20 World Cup wickets for India: Arshdeep Singh surpassed Jasprit Bumrah
With three wickets in the match, Indian left-arm pacer Arshdeep Singh has taken 35 wickets in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup.
Arshdeep Singh surpassed Jasprit Bumrah (33 wickets) to set a new record for most wickets by an Indian in the history of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup.
Zimbabwe's record T20 World Cup total
Zimbabwe scored 184/6 in 20 overs.
It was the highest total for Zimbabwe in the history of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup. Their previous T20 World Cup record was 182/4 in 19.3 overs against Sri Lanka during the group stage of the ongoing ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026.
India claim memorable win
India won the match by 72 runs.
It was India’s fourth-largest win by runs in their history of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup.
