India has been facing Zimbabwe in an all-important clash at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai. The Men in Blue were invited to bat first after Zimbabwe skipper Sikandar Raza won the toss and elected to field first. India made two changes in the game, with Sanju Samson coming in for Rinku Singh and Washington Sundar going out for vice-captain Axar Patel.
Sanju Samson and Abhishek Sharma gave India a blistering start against the Chevrons. The former got off to a good start using his experience and playing attacking shots from the very first over, and scored 24 off 15 balls, hitting two sixes and one four in his short, impactful innings. Stitching a partnership of 48 runs for the first wicket.
This was exactly the start India needed after faltering in the very first overs in the previous, losing one of their openers early in the first over. In the T20 World Cup 2026, India’s average for the first wicket was just 6.8, and this is the worst among all 20 teams playing in this major ICC event.
After Sanju Samson came back in the side, the opening partnership went to 48 runs. Pointing out to this former pacer, Irfan Pathan praised Samson for his short, explosive innings and expressed his thoughts about how the opener played according to the expectations of the team management.
Sanju Samson played exactly the way the team needed-Irfan Pathan
Irfan Pathan via X (formerly Twitter) said, “India’s first-wicket average this World Cup was just around 7. lowest among all teams. Today, Sanju Samson played exactly the way the team needed and helped put up India’s highest opening partnership of this World Cup. He did the job.”
India’s first-wicket average this World Cup was just around 7. lowest among all teams.Today, Sanju Samson played exactly the way the team needed and helped put up India’s highest opening partnership of this World Cup.He did the job.
— Irfan Pathan (@IrfanPathan) February 26, 2026Speaking about opening partnerships, in 5 matches India scored 8 runs against USA, next 25 runs against Namibia, a game that Sanju played and scored 22 off 8 balls. Next, it was a run against Pakistan, and then 0 against the Netherlands, followed by another 0 runs against South Africa, before losing the first wicket.
Indian opening partnership has been a problem
Due to one of the openers failing to fire, pressure was increasing on India’s middle order, and they were collapsing in the middle overs. However, the problem was not just low runs, but the manner of dismissals as the openers were too defensive against the new balls, or they were getting out by playing reckless shots.
Sanju Samson has been in and out of the team due to his form. Despite having a good 2024 year, he was dropped from the side in 2025, to fit in Shubman Gill, and then he batted in the middle order and failed to have an impact. Later on, he returned to his actual position but failed to score runs.
In the last seven innings, he has scored 92 runs with an average of 13.14. This has been the reason he was dropped. This was only the second match he got in this edition of the competition. Samson played the first match against Namibia after Abhishek Sharma was out due to a stomach bug.
Coming to the match, India has been in a good position with 220/4 at the end of 18 overs. Abhishek Sharma finally got his first big runs, scoring 55 off 30 balls as the Southpaw smashed four sixes and as many boundaries. Suryakumar Yadav is playing a knock of 33 off 14 balls, as the Men in Blue eye for a target of over 220.
Also Read: Watch: Gautam Gambhir's unexpected gesture for Sanju Samson after latter's dismissal vs Zimbabwe
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