The Indian batsmen’s performance in this match played at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad was very disappointing. Apart from Shivam Dubey (42 runs), no other batsman could cross the 20-run mark. Now India need to not only win the next two matches but also beat Zimbabwe and West Indies by a big margin to make it to the semi-finals of the T20 World Cup 2026.

If not, Team India’s dream of becoming the T20 world champion for the second time in a row may be shattered. These two matches will be ‘moran bachon’ for the Indian team. As a result, there may be some big changes in India’s playing eleven in this match.

After the loss against South Africa, Tilak Burma and Washington may be angry at Sundar. Tilak has yet to perform well in T20 World Cup 2026 while batting at number-3. In the match against South Africa he got out for just 1 run. Coach Gambhir in the dugout was also very disappointed with the way he got out.

The team management may consider giving Sanju Samson a chance in place of Tilak Verma in the crucial match against Zimbabwe. There are also 5 left-handed batsmen in the top-7 of the Indian batting order. Opposing teams have been planning for this, which is proving detrimental to the Indian team. There is a possibility of Sanju Samson playing instead of Tilak Varma in this aspect as well.

Fans were surprised that Akshar Patel was not named in India’s playing XI against South Africa. Washington Sundar flopped in this match. The team management will want to correct this mistake against Zimbabwe. Akshar is reliable with ball and bat.

Like India’s starting XI against Zimbabwe–

Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan (Wicketkeeper), Sanju Samson, Suryakumar Yadav (Captain), Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dubey, Rinku Singh, Akshar Patel, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Varun Chakraborty.