Former Australian middle-order batter and captain Michael Clarke has backed India to qualify for the final of the ongoing ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 despite Suryakumar Yadav’s men suffering a humiliating
defeat by 76 runs in their first Super 8s match on Sunday. In the fixture played at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad against South Africa, Indian players could only manage to score 111 runs in reply to the target of 188 runs. The horrible performance by Team India on Sunday invited a lot of criticism for many players, and even head coach Gautam Gambhir was also questioned for his tactics.
But despite India’s crushing defeat, Clarke feels India remain the best T20 team in the world.
“For South Africa to beat the favourites in their own backyard—wow!, that’s a huge game for them and a huge victory. Now the pressure is on this Indian team, which is going to be great to see. To me, they’re still the best team. They’re the best T20 team in the world, playing in conditions they know so well. So I’m still backing them to make the final, but things change now after losing that game to South Africa,” Clarke said on the Beyond23 Cricket Podcast.
According to Clarke, he expects India to defeat Zimbabwe comfortably in their second Super 8s match, but the match against the West Indies will be an exciting one, and the winner of that contest will become the second team from Super 8s Group 1 to qualify for the semi-finals.
“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 the West Indies. The 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 which second team qualifies from that group,” Clarke said.
Clarke, who led Australia to the final of the 2010 T20 World Cup, said it would be huge if India fail to qualify for the final.
“If India don’t qualify… you’d be absolutely fuming if you are an Indian cricket fan, and you would be surprised. They’re currently the best team in the world, and they’re playing in conditions they know so well. It would be huge if India didn’t qualify. I would not—you’d be stupid to—write India off, not only to qualify but also to be in that final,” Clarke added.
