Delhi: Half-centuries from Ishan Kishan and Hardik Pandya led defending champions India to a resounding 93-run victory over Namibia in the 18th match of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Thursday.
Chasing a target of 210 runs, Namibia were bowled out for 116 runs in 18.2 overs.
The Eagles were 67/1 after seven overs, but Loren Steenkamp’s dismissal on the first delivery of the next over derailed their run chase, sparking a match-defining collapse that saw them lose eight wickets for 49 runs.
Steenkamp remained the top scorer with 29 off 20 balls, followed by his opening partner John Frylink with 20 off 15 balls.
Apart from them, top-order batsman John Nicoll Lofty-Eaden (13), skipper Gerhard Erasmus (18), and wicketkeeper-batsman Jane Green (11) were the only Indian bowlers to score double figures against restricted bowling.
Varun Chakraborty took three wickets, Axar Patel and Hardik Pandya took two wickets each and Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh and Shivam Dubey took one wicket each.
Namibia skipper Herhard Erasmus’ decision to field first backfired as the home side amassed 209/9 in 20 overs.
Right-handed opener Sanju Samson fell victim to Ben Shikongo after his eight-ball 22 with 3 sixes and a four.
After stumbling early on, Kishan joined Tilak Verma and the duo put on 79 off 31 balls for the second wicket to put India in a commanding position.
The platform-setting partnership ended with Kishan’s dismissal on the first delivery of the eighth over after top-scoring with 24-ball 61 with 6 fours and 5 sixes.
His dismissal followed two more setbacks for the home side as skipper Suryakumar Yadav (12) and Verma (25) were dismissed in quick succession.
With the scoreboard reading 124/4 in 11.5 overs, Pandya and Shivam Dubey put on a quick 81 for the fifth wicket before both were dismissed in successive balls in the last over.
Pandya scored 52 runs off 28 balls with 4 fours and a six while Dubey scored 23 off 16 balls.
Their back-to-back dismissals triggered a slump as India lost three more wickets at the back, but managed to post a total of over 200.
Captain Erasmus bowled well for Namibia with four wickets conceding just 20 runs in his four overs, while JJ Smith, Bernard Scholtz and Shikongo could claim a scalp each.