India came into their second Super 8 clash of the T20 World Cup 2026 under pressure after their opening defeat against South Africa. They needed to collect a vital victory against Zimbabwe at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai to stay alive in the competition, as the South Africa side had already helped them with a win over West Indies in the afternoon clash. 

Sanju Samson gave them a good start with a six against Blessing Muzarabani on the very second ball of the innings. But the focus was on their out-of-form batter, Abhishek Sharma, who made only 14 runs in four innings of the campaign, including three ducks, which was a massive concern for the management.

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Abhishek lofted Tinotenda Maposa for a straight boundary as the ball flew over the bowler’s head and crossed the rope after one bounce on the second ball of the third over, before he nailed the over-pitched delivery over the bowler’s head like a copied boundary off the free-hit.

Abhishek Sharma gets two fours and one six in single over during T20 WC 2026 

Sanju Samson joined the mini-party with a boundary on the fourth ball as he threw his hands on the cut and hit the length ball in the gap between the short third and deep square region. A cracking end was needed in that over to get the full momentum in India’s favor, and Abhishek lit it up with a six.

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On the final delivery of the third over, he read the slower delivery, took his time, and cleared his front leg to club it clean over the long-on region. Zimbabwe, however, made a comeback in the very next over of the innings with the wicket of Samson, who couldn’t keep the short ball on the ground and was dismissed for 24 runs.

This was a new balanced side for India, who decided to demote their inform opener, Ishan Kishan, at number three, and went ahead with Tilka Varma at number 5, by dropping Rinku Singh from the eleven as Axar Patel returned to the side in place of Washington Sundar.

Brief Scores: INDIA 80/1 (Abhishek Sharma 33*, Blessing Muzurabani 1/13) vs ZIMBABWE.