India and Zimbabwe will clash at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai in a crucial clash in the T20 World Cup. Having come to the Super 8 stage undefeated, both India and Zimbabwe have endured massive losses at the hands of South Africa and the West Indies, respectively.
The defeats for each team have meant that a lot will depend on the result of the clash. Interestingly, the two nations have only met once in the T20 World Cups. It was in 2022 in Australia, when India and Zimbabwe faced each other during the group stage at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
India vs Zimbabwe in T20 World Cup 2022
Winning the toss, India elected to bat first and got off to a great start. KL Rahul, opening the innings, scored a crucial half-century, hitting three sixes and three fours in 35 balls during his knock of 51 runs. However, the star performer with the bat for the ‘Men in Blue’ was the current skipper, Suryakumar Yadav. In his unbeaten knock of 61 runs, Surya smashed six fours while depositing the ball over the boundary four times in 25 balls. His boundary-laden knock powered India to a score of 186 runs in the first innings.
India continued the momentum with the ball in hand in the second innings as they rolled out Zimbabwe for a score of 115 runs. Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Arshdeep Singh struck with their opening spells. Mohammed Shami and Hardik Pandya picked up two wickets each, while Ravichandran Ashwin claimed three scalps.
In the same tournament, Zimbabwe made the headlines by registering a one-run win over Pakistan during the group stage. However, barring the win against Pakistan, it was a poor tournament for the African nation as they lost to India, the Netherlands, and Bangladesh.
India and Zimbabwe in the T20 World Cup 2026
Both India and Zimbabwe finished their respective groups undefeated. India managed to win each of their four games quite comfortably. Meanwhile, Zimbabwe defeated group favourites Australia and co-hosts Sri Lanka. Their match against Ireland was washed out.
In the Super 8, India endured a shocking loss by 76 runs at the hands of South Africa, plummeting their net run-rate to a negative 3.8. Zimbabwe, playing their first game of the tournament in India, lost to the West Indies by 107 runs at the Eden Gardens.
Given the current standings, a win might not be enough for either of the two teams to make it into the semi-finals. However, it could prove to be a crucial result depending on the result of the clash between South Africa and the West Indies.
