India vs Zimbabwe Today Match Playing , T20 World Cup 2026: IND vs ZIM in Chennai

                                  

                         India vs Zimbabwe| T20 World Cup 2026 |

India vs Zimbabwe T20 World Cup 2026 Match Playing 11: Suryakumar Yadav’s India will take on Sikandar Raza’s Zimbabwe on Thursday in Chennai. For the hosts, it is a must-win game. They have played some pretty decent cricket through the tournament, but their first game against South Africa and India was completely outplayed.

India Squad: Ishan Kishan(w), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav(c), Washington Sundar, Shivam Dube, Hardik Pandya, Rinku Singh, Arshdeep Singh, Varun Chakaravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Sanju Samson

Zimbabwe Squad: Tadiwanashe Marumani(w), Brian Bennett, Dion Myers, Ryan Burl, Sikandar Raza(c), Tony Munyonga, Tashinga Musekiwa, Brad Evans, Graeme Cremer, Blessing Muzarabani, Richard Ngarava, Ben Curran, Clive Madande, Tinotenda Maposa, Wellington Masakadza

Sanju Samson is expected to return to the side to break the sequence of left-handers in the batting order. However, Samson, coming into the tournament, has been in a pretty ordinary form and got his opportunity against Namibia, where he managed to get 22 runs from eight balls. Apart from that, Axar Patel was benched for the game against South Africa, with the form the all-rounder was in, and he too will return to the side.

As per Zimbabwe, after a terrific group stage performance, they too have been thrashed by the West Indies in their first Super 8 encounter. Not too many gave them a chance to reach this stage, but they played some pretty solid cricket and will hope to deliver a similar gut punch, which they have managed to deliver to Australia and Sri Lanka in the first round of the event.

South Africa defeated India by 76 runs in their first Super 8 match. This defeat pushed India's net run rate past -3. After this defeat, it was believed that if three teams reached the final by winning two matches each, then the decision would be based on net run rate, but this equation has changed. Following the defeat against South Africa, the West Indies added insult to injury for India. The West Indies defeated Zimbabwe by 107 runs, and with this victory, their net run rate crossed +5, surpassing South Africa's, and the West Indies reached the top of their group in the points table.

With the West Indies' victory, the equation has now completely shifted beyond the net run rate narrative. Even if India wins both of its matches, it is very unlikely that its net run rate will fall below -3 and put it in a better position than South Africa or the West Indies. Even after two wins, India's net run rate reaching a positive mark is a significant achievement. In such a situation, if India, West Indies, and South Africa win two matches each, it would not be wrong to say that India's hopes of reaching the semi-finals will be over.

In such a situation, to qualify, India will need to win both its matches against Zimbabwe and West Indies and pray that South Africa wins today's match between South Africa and West Indies. Furthermore, if West Indies defeats South Africa, then we will have to hope that Zimbabwe defeats South Africa. If this happens, the African team will have only 2 points, and India will win its two matches and book a ticket to the semi-finals along with West Indies with 4 points.