India faced Zimbabwe in their second Super 8s match of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 on Thursday (February 26) in Chennai and secured a dominating win by 72 runs. India posted a total of 256/4 after
Zimbabwe skipper Sikandar Raza invited Suryakumar Yadav’s men to bat first at MA Chidambaram Stadium and then restricted the African team to 184/6. For Zimbabwe, opener Brian Bennett played a superb knock of 97 runs, but it was not enough to help them get the better of India.
The win over Zimbabwe has kept India’s hopes of qualifying for the semifinals alive.
India will qualify for the T20 World Cup 2026 semifinals if they defeat the West Indies in their third Super 8s match.
The match between India and the West Indies is scheduled to take place at Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Sunday (March 1).
If India lose their last Super 8s match against the Men in Maroon, then India will finish third in the Group 1 points table and fail to qualify for the semifinals.
If, due to rain in Kolkata on Sunday, the match between India and West Indies gets washed out, then also the West Indies will qualify for the semifinals.
Why?
West Indies will pip India in case of a washout due to their better net run rate in comparison to India. India’s net run rate post their win over Zimbabwe in Chennai is -0.100, whereas the West Indies’ net run rate is +1.791.
India needed to defeat the Zimbabwe team by 148-plus runs on Thursday to go ahead of West Indies’ NRR, but they failed to achieve the objective.
Super 8s Group 1 points table after India-Zimbabwe match
| POSITION | TEAM | MATCHES | WINS | DEFEATS | NO RESULT | POINTS | NRR |
| 1. | South Africa | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | +2.890 |
| 2. | West Indies | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | +1.791 |
| 3. | India | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | -0.100 |
| 4. | Zimbabwe | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | -4.475 |
South Africa have already qualified for the semifinals from Group 1, and Aiden Markram’s men will top the points table if they avoid defeat against Zimbabwe in Delhi on Sunday (March 1).
From the Super 8s Group 2, England have also qualified for the semifinals, and New Zealand will join them if they manage to get the better of Harry Brook’s men in Colombo on Friday (February 27). New Zealand’s win over England will also bring an end to Pakistan’s hopes of qualifying for the semifinals.
If New Zealand lose, then Pakistan must defeat Sri Lanka by a very big margin so that they can pip New Zealand in terms of net run rate and qualify for the semifinals.
