T20 World Cup 2026: Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya and Varun Chakravarthy BRILLIANCE helps patchy Team India hammer Namibia in Delhi

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Team India posted their biggest-ever win in T20 World Cup history, defeating Namibia by 93 runs at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi on Thursday.


Published date india.com
Updated: February 12, 2026 10:53 PM IST

Ishan Kishan
Ishan Kishan en route to scoring 61 off 24 balls in T20 World Cup 2026 match vs Namibia in T20 World Cup 2026 match in New Delhi. (Photo: PTI)

India vs Namibia T20 World Cup 2026: Defending champions Team India haven’t quite hit their straps yet in the T20 World Cup 2026 but thankfully still notched up their second win on the trot, hammering Namibia by 93 runs in the Group A match at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi on Thursday. In fact, the Indian team have now won 10 successive matches in the T20 World Cup since losing to England in 2022 semifinals and posted their biggest-ever win in this ICC tournament.

It was a roller-coaster ride for Suryakumar Yadav’s side against African minnows Namibia, who had sent the co-hosts in to bat first. The Indians took off like a bullet-train with Ishan Kishan smashing four successive sixes in an over on his way to scoring a fifty off 20 balls and notched up 87 runs in the Powerplay and the 100 came up in just 7 overs.

Kishan joined former captain Rohit Sharma on an unique list, smashing 28 runs in an over – becoming only 3rd batter to achieve this feat in T20 World Cup history. While Kishan brought up 28 runs in JJ Smit’s over, Rohit had achieved this feat against Mitchell Starc in the T20 World Cup 2024 campaign. Only Yuvraj Singh is ahead of them with 36 runs in one over off England’s Stuart Broad in T20 World Cup 2007.

The fans would have been licking their lips in anticipation as a 300-run total for the first time in T20I history was on the cards. But that was before Namibia spinners led by captain Gerhard Erasmus entered the attack.

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Erasmus and left-arm spinner Bernard Scholtz grabbed three quick wickets to bring the run-rate to a grinding halt. The Namibian skipper was especially impressive with his variety, especially his round-arm deliveries and grabbed 4/20 in his 4 overs. Erasmus became only the 4th captain to claim 4 wickets in T20 World Cup after Rashid Khan, Daniel Vettori and Zeeshan Maqsood of Oman.

Kishan was dismissed off the first ball bowled by Erasmus for 61 off 24 balls with 5 sixes and 6 fours. After the Sunrisers Hyderabad wicketkeeper’s dismissal it was left to Mumbai Indians all-rounder Hardik Pandya to prop up the middle-order.

Pandya utilized the long-handle well, smashing his 3rd fifty in T20 World Cup and 8th of his career off 27 balls with 4 sixes and 4 fours and put on 81 runs for 5th wicket to lift India past  200-run total.

The all-rounder’s dismissal triggered another collapse as India lost 5 wickets for 4 runs to end up at 209 for 9 in their 20 overs with Erasmus adding a couple of more wickets at the end.

Varun Chakravarthy derails Namibia batting

In their chase, Namibia were always behind the target especially when world No. 1 T20I bowler came in the attack. Chakravarthy picked up three quick wickets, dismissing Louren Steenkamp (29), Jan Nicol Loftie-Eaton (13) and JJ Smit (0) in quick succession while Axar Patel sent back an impressive Erasmus for 18 off 11 balls and Namibia slipped from 67 for 1 to 88 for 5.

Pandya struck with the ball as well, picking up a couple of wickets at the end and his all-round show earned him a ‘Player-of-the-match’ award as he ended up with 2/21 in 4 overs. The MI skipper was on a hat-trick at one stage after dismissing Bernard Scholtz and Ben Shikongo off successive deliveries. Chakravarthy proved to be unplayable, claiming 3/7 in 2 overs while Axar snared 2/20.

Indians now head to Colombo to take on arch-rivals Pakistan in their third Group A match at the R. Premadasa Stadium on Sunday.

For all latest updates of T20 World Cup 2026 you can visit: https://www.india.com/icc-mens-t20-world-cup-2026/<!–</–>


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