Tilak-Rinku-Sundar out, Sanju Samson in? India can enter the match against Zimbabwe with these 11 players

New Delhi. T20 World Cup 2026 has reached an exciting turn. In its second match of Super-8, the Indian team will face M.A. Chennai on Thursday (26 February). Will face Zimbabwe at Chidambaram Stadium. This will be the first T20 International match between India and Zimbabwe on Indian soil, but the importance of the match goes beyond the statistics. Both the teams have suffered shameful defeats in their last Super-8 match. While India was defeated by South Africa by 76 runs in Ahmedabad, Zimbabwe under the captaincy of Sikandar Raza is also under pressure after losing its last match. To remain in the race for the semi-finals, Team India will have to win this match at any cost.

In the last match, giving preference to Washington Sundar over Akshar Patel proved costly for the team management. Sundar could neither do wonders with the bat (11 runs) nor could he take any wicket with the ball. Looking at the Chennai pitch, it is almost certain that vice-captain Akshar Patel will return to the playing eleven. His all-round ability will give the team the balance which was missing in the last match.

Bet on Sanju Samson and Kuldeep Yadav?

The Indian batting order is currently a matter of serious discussion. The bats of young stars like Tilak Verma, Rinku Singh and Abhishek Sharma have been silent on the big stage of the World Cup. Tilak has performed only mediocre in 5 matches. Barring the innings against USA in Mumbai, his strike rate has been less than 120, which is worrying in the T20 format. Abhishek, who was considered the most dangerous batsman before the tournament, could score only 15 runs in 4 matches. Against South Africa, he looked completely helpless against the slow balls. The bat of this ‘finisher’ from Aligarh has also been completely calm in the last 5 matches (6, 1, 11 not out, 6, 0 not out).

Sanju Samson may get a chance

In such a situation, Sanju Samson may get a chance, giving preference to experience. Samson played a short but effective innings of 22 runs in 8 balls against Namibia in February. With his entry, the team will get a right-left hand combination in the top order. At the same time, the return of Kuldeep Yadav on the spin friendly pitch of Chennai is also considered certain, who can replace Rinku Singh. If Sanju Samson comes into the team, there will be a change in the batting order of Team India. There is a possibility that Samson will open and Ishan Kishan will come to bat at number-3. This change can strengthen the team captained by Suryakumar Yadav.

India’s probable playing XI (against Zimbabwe)

Sanju Samson, Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan (wicketkeeper), Suryakumar Yadav (captain), Shivam Dubey, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel (vice-captain), Varun Chakraborty, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh.