India beat Zimbabwe by 72 runs to chase T20 World Cup semifinal spot

India beat Zimbabwe by 72 runs to chase T20 World Cup semifinal spotIndia knocked out a defiant Zimbabwe in a high-scoring match in Chennai to keep alive their chances of making the semis.Published On 26 Feb 2026India have roared back to winning ways in the T20 World Cup, handing a 72-run defeat to a defiant Zimbabwe in their crucial Super Eight game in Chennai and setting up a virtual quarterfinal against the West Indies.The defending champions posted a mammoth 257-run target for the spirited African side, who refused to bow out of the tournament without putting up a fight at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on Thursday.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemslist 1 of 4India now sets the terms of global cricketlist 2 of 4Pakistani players in the Hundred: What’s the cricket controversy all about?list 3 of 4As T20 World Cup begins, ousted Bangladesh rues politicisation of cricketlist 4 of 4T20 World Cup: Which teams can qualify for the semifinals and how?end of listProlific Zimbabwe opener Brian Bennett scored 97 not out, but was unable to see his side over the line as they continued their impressive World Cup campaign by scoring 184-6 against the pre-tournament favourites in front of a vociferous home crowd.Pace bowler Arshdeep Singh was the standout bowler for India in the high-scoring match as he picked up 3-24 in his four overs.Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya were the most economical performers with the ball in the high-scoring match at one of the smaller World Cup venues. Both were wicketless but gave away only 21 runs in their three overs, while Varun Chakravarthy, Axar Patel and Shivam Dube picked up a wicket each.Earlier, Sanju Samson made the most of his comeback into the playing 11 by hitting a six off the second ball of India’s innings and going on to score 24 runs off 15 balls.His attacking display gave out-of-form opener Abhishek Sharma the time to settle and then launch his own attack from the other end. The world’s top-ranked T20 batter went on to top score with 55 off 30 balls in an innings that comprised four fours and four sixes.