2 min readFeb 26, 2026 08:30 AM IST
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.
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.
Predicted XI
India XI: Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson (wk), Ishan Kishan, Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav (c), Shivam Dube, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Varun CV, Jasprit Bumrah
Zimbabwe XI:Brian Bennett, Tadiwanashe Marumani (wk), Dion Myers, Ryan Burl, Sikandar Raza (c), Tony Munyonga, Tashinga Musekiwa, Brad Evans, Graeme Cremer, Richard Ngarava, Blessing Muzarabani
Squads:
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
