India Dominate Namibia with All-Round Brilliance

India delivered a commanding performance against Namibia, powered by standout displays from Hardik, Ishan, and Varun, sealing a convincing win and finishing on a high note.

Rakesh Thapliyal

New Delhi: Briliant attacking half century by opener Ishan Kishan (61 runs, 24 balls, 6×4, 5×6), all round performance by ‘Player of the match’ Hardik Pandya (52 runs, 28 balls, 4×4, 4×6 and 2 wickets) and varun Chakaravarthy’s (2-0-7-3) superb spin bowling helped India beat Namibia by 93 runs in the group A match of ICC Men’s T20 Cricket World Cup 2026 here on Thursday at ArunJaitley stadium.

India earned two points and with a total of 4 points reached on top of points table on better net run rate as Pakistan also have 4 points.

India will now Travel to Colombo to play next match against Pakistan on Feburary 15.

Ishan Kishan in action.

Indian skipper Suryakumar Yadav was asked to bat first by Namibia captain Gerhard Erasmus. Suryakumar Yadav said that he was also planning to bat first. India scored 209 for 9 in 20 overs and Namibia was bundled out for 116 runs in 18.2 overs.

Namibia started well and in seven overs they were in good position with score board showing 67 runs for one wicket. Only Louren Steenkamp (29) and Jan Frylinck (22) showed some batting skills.

In the absence of Abhishek Sharma opener Sanju Samson got the chance and started well by attacking fast bowler Ben Shikongo. He hit two sixes and a boundry in the second over but soon got out scoring 22 runs in just 8 balls with three sixes.

Ishan Kishan hit JJ Smit for 28 runs in the sixth over. He smacked four sixes and a boundary in a row.

Two big partnerships boosted Indian innings first, Ishan Kishan and Tilak Varma (25) added 79 runs for the second wicket. For the 5th wicket Hardik Pandya and Shivam Dubey (23) put 81 runs.

At one time India were in commanding postion with 205 for 4 in 18.1 overs, but after that, India lost five wickets by adding just 4 runs in 11balls.

Namibia’s captain Gerhard Erasmus took four wickets. He was most successful bowler and took important wickets of Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya, Tilak Varma and Axar Patel.

India have made two changes, fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah who missed the opening game against the USA returns in place of Mohammed Siraj. Siraj has taken three wickets against USA and played very important role in the win.

Abhishek Sharma who was admitted to hospital with a stomach illness misses out, with Sanju Samson coming in his place.

Scoreboard

INDIA: 209/9 in 20 overs
Ishan Kishan c Shikongo b
Erasmus 61 (24b, 6×4, 5×6), Sanju
Samson c Steenkamp b Shikongo
22 (8b, 1×4, 3×6), Tilak Varma c
Smit b Erasmus 25 (21b, 3×4),
Suryakumar Yadav st. Green b
Scholtz 12 (13b, 1×6), Hardik
Pandya c (sub) Leicher b Erasmus
52 (28b, 4×4, 4×6), Shivam Dube
run out 23 (16b, 1×4, 1×6), Rinku
Singh c Erasmus b Smit 1 (6b),
Axar Patel b Erasmus 0 (1b),
Varun Chakaravarthy (not out) 1
(1b), Arshdeep Singh run out 2
(2b); Extras (lb-1, w-9): 10; Total
(for nine wickets in 20 overs): 209.
FALL OF WICKETS
1-25 (Samson, 1.6 overs), 2-104
(Kishan, 7.1), 3-120 (Suryakumar,
10.1), 4-124 (Tilak, 11.5), 5-205
(Hardik, 18.2), 6-205 (Dube, 18.3),
7-206 (Axar, 18.6), 8-206 (Rinku,
19.3), 9-209 (Arshdeep, 19.6).
BOWLING
Trumpelmann 4-0-38-0, Shikongo
3-0-41-1, Smit 4-0-50-1, Heingo
1-0-18-0, Erasmus 4-0-20-4,
Scholtz 4-0-41-1.

NAMIBIA: 
Louren Steenkamp b Varun 29
(20b, 3×4, 1×6), Jan Frylinck c
Dube b Arshdeep 22 (15b, 3×4,
1×6), Jan Nicol Loftie-Eaton c
Axar b Varun 13 (13b, 1×4),
Gerhard Erasmus c Tilak b Axar
18 (11b, 2×6), J.J. Smit b Varun 0
(2b), Zane Green hit wicket b
Dube 11 (19b), Malan Kruger c
Bumrah b Axar 5 (10b, 1×4),
Ruben Trumpelmann b Bumrah 6
(16b), Bernard Scholtz c Axar b
Hardik 4 (4b, 1×4), Ben Shikongo
lbw b Hardik 0 (1b), Max Heingo
(not out) 0 (2b); Extras (b-1, nb-3,
w-4): 8; Total (all out in 18.2 overs): 116.
FALL OF WICKETS
1-33 (Frylinck, 3.4), 2-67
(Steenkamp, 7.1), 3-86
(Loftie-Eaton, 9.2), 4-86 (Smit,
9.4), 5-88 (Erasmus, 10.1), 6-94
(Kruger, 12.3), 7-111
(Trumpelmann, 16.4), 8-116
(Scholtz, 17.3), 9-116 (Shikongo,
17.4), 10-116 (zane Green18.2)
BOWLING
Hardik 4-0-21-2, Arshdeep
3-0-36-1, Dube 2.2-0-11-1,
Bumrah 4-0-20-1, Varun 2-0-7-3,
Axar 3-1-20-2.