Former India Captain Anil Kumble believes India's experimentation over the past 18 months has strengthened their T20 depth, while former South Africa skipper Faf du Plessis highlighted potential tactical vulnerabilities on flat pitches.
Indian opener before this Zimbabwe clash have faced trouble while facing offspinners in the power-play. In six fixtures so far in the ongoing T20 WC, offspinners have the better of Indian openers four times inside the power-play.
It was the new-look opening pair of Abhishek Sharma (55) and Sanju Samson (24) that did the damage during the early overs, with Ishan Kishan (38), Suryakumar Yadav (33), Hardik Pandya (50*) and Tilak Varma (44*) all getting in on the act as India posted the highest score of the T20 World Cup
Zimbabwe's 72-run loss to India, following a 107-run loss to West Indies, has sealed their exit from the T20 World Cup, with South Africa qualifying for the semifinal from their group and the shoot-off for the second semifinal spot in Group 1 being between India and West Indies, who will pla
Chasing a daunting target of 257 runs, Zimbabwe managed to make 184/6 in 20 overs with the help of Brian Bennett's unbeaten 97 off 59 balls. Arshdeep Singh took three wickets as Shivam Dube, Varun Chakaravarthy and Axar Patel shared one wicket each among them.
Pandya was named Player of the Match for his all-round performance, where he first hit an unbeaten 23-ball half-century and then bowled three overs, conceding just 21 runs.
Zimbabwe won the toss and decided to bat against the defending champions in the do-or-die Super eight contest at the ICC Men's T20 World Cup on Thursday.
Hard hitter Romario Shepherd and veteran all-rounder Jason Holder registered the second-highest partnership for the eighth wicket or lower in T20I cricket during the ICC Men's T20 World Cup Super 8 clash against South Africa in the T20 World Cup on Thursday.
Former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan has heaped praise on South Africa for their sharp tactical awareness at the ongoing T20 World Cup, calling their decision-making "solid game awareness and elite game IQ."
Indian opener batters have shown discomfort against off-spinners in the powerplay, and the opponents have used this in almost every match to counter-attack against the Indian batting order.
South Africa captain Aiden Markram won the toss and opted to bowl first against two-time champions West Indies in both teams' second Super 8s clash at the T20 World Cup 2026, at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Thursday.
Former India captain Anil Kumble has cautioned India not to "take Zimbabwe lightly" ahead of their upcoming Super 8s fixture of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup on Thursday, stressing that the Men in Blue need to play their natural and aggressive brand of cricket