Ishan Kishan, Varun Chakarvarthy shine as India thrash Namibia by 93 runs despite middle-order struggles

A capacity crowd arrived at the Feroz Shah Kotla ground on a breezy, pleasant Thursday evening and spent nearly four hours watching 19 wickets scalped and 18 sixes go into the stands before an ultimately predictable result played itself out. India’s collective quality – despite an indifferent batting performance and an average new-ball spell – was simply too much to contend with for Namibia, who arrived here as the underdogs and looked the part for much of the contest. The 93-run victory will remain a footnote in the hosts’ grand pursuit to become the first team to defend the World T20 title, and the first to win it at home. The Kotla faithful stayed late into the night and broke into bhangra celebrations at the end, though such scenes are unlikely to be replicated in the dressing room. They are not likely to give it a second thought either. That India needed nowhere near their best but still looked unplayable at times, with different players coming up with match-winning moments even when the team did not string the dominant collective performance expected against so-called ‘minnows’ bodes well for their title ambitions. It also acted as nifty preparation for the politically-charged and much-hyped encounter against Pakistan on Sunday. Indian player Hardik Pandya reacts after winning the match during India-Namibia T-20 Cricket world Cup at Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi Thursday. EXPRESS PHOTO BY PRAVEEN KHANNA 12 02 2026. The hosts put up a 209-run total despite a slowdown in the middle and a collapse at the death. Namibia were looking capable of stretching them at 85 for two after nine overs before Varun Chakaravarthy came up with the kind of spell he often does, taking three wickets in two overs, the opposition failing to get a read on him, and crawling to the finish line for an expected loss from there. Indifferent batting show The spate of big-hitters at this tournament and the typically flat batting-friendly pitches expected for the India leg of this tournament had inflated expectations of the first 300+ total at a T20 World Cup. Those expectations did not seem unfounded in the first half an hour of this contest, such was the blistering start that India had, powered by Ishan Kishan. The absence of Abhishek Sharma due to a stomach bug – his presence at the ground was a good omen for his availability against Pakistan in Colombo – gave Sanju Samson a game and he went at the bowlers hard but lost his wicket equally quickly. It was left to Kishan to milk the fast bowlers, and that he did. His offensive 24-ball 61 did not just stand out for its pace but also for its savviness. Diminutive yet destructive, Kishan scrambled the minds of an opposition bowling attack that did not quite have much experience at this level. He led India to a powerplay score of 85 for 1, but following his dismissal, India’s run rate nearly halved as they struggled to get a read on Namibia’s spinners. Their captain led the charge, the tall fingerspinner Gerhard Erasmus, who ended with career-best figures of four for 20 and got the ball to grip into the flat surface and expose the Indian batting lineup’s tentativeness when conditions are not the way they want them to be.Story continues below this ad Namibia bowler Erasmus celebrates after taking the wicket of Tilak Verma during India-Namibia T-20 Cricket world Cup at Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi Thursday. EXPRESS PHOTO BY PRAVEEN KHANNA 12 02 2026. The same had surfaced when they were reduced to 77 for 6 against USA in the last match. Then, it was heroics from skipper Suryakumar Yadav that brought them out of trouble. Here, it was Kishan’s fast start and Hardik Pandya’s merciless hammering of the spinners later in the innings, inclusive of a 109m six, that was enough for a 200+ total despite another late collapse. The target was imposing enough for the lower-ranked visitors to be under the pump from the start of the run chase, but the feeling that India left a significant amount of runs on the table never abated. The fact that some of them struggled to get going against slow spin does not bode well for the upcoming assignment in Colombo, where conditions favour tweakers. Ultimately, no lessons were learnt but the job was done. There may be an odd satisfaction in being clinical without needing to be flashy. Brief Scores: India 209/9 in 20 overs (Ishan Kishan 61, Hardik Pandya 52; Gerhard Erasmus 4/20) beat Namibia 116 all out in 18.2 overs (Louren Steenkamp 29; Varun Chakaravarthy 3/7, Axar Patel 2/20).

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