India beat West Indies by five wickets in the Super 8 match of the 2026 WT20. This was a terrific game at the Eden Gardens. India won the toss and opted to bowl first and it proved to be the right decision as batting got easier in the second innings with due coming in. West Indies made one change from the last game as they dropped King and brought in Akeal Hosein. They had a very sedate start as Shai Hope was struggling and Chase opened the batting. West Indies did not lose any wicket in the powerplay but the run rate was an issue.
Shai Hope was dismissed for 32 in the ninth over by Axar Patel and it was a real struggle for him as his strike rate was less than 100. Shimron Hetmyer came in and smashed 27 runs off 12 balls and that gave the momentum to the West Indies innings. Roston Chase scored 40 runs of 25 balls before getting dismissed as West Indies were reduced to 103/3 at the 12th over mark.
India struck back again as Rutherford was dismissed cheaply but Jason Holder and Rovman Powell stitched up a partnership to ensure West Indies got the flourish in the end. West Indies ended with 195/4 at the end of the first innings as Holder finished with 37* and Powell ended with unbeaten 34. It was a good total on the board and India needed to register their highest successful chase in T20 World Cups.
Abhishek Sharma continued his poor form in the chase as he was dismissed for 10 and Ishan Kishan too fell for 10. But it was Sanju Samson who stole the show with a terrific knock. He played without many risks but consistently struck it at a strike rate of more than 200 for a large part of his innings. He remained unbeaten and along with Tilak Varma ensured India were always ahead in the game.
India lost a few wickets as Tilak Varma fell and Hardik soon followed him as India needed 17 runs of the last 10 balls with five wickets in hand. It was a terrific finish as India won the match by five wickets and Samson hit the winning shot and ended up unbeaten on 97. Sanju Samson was the player of the match for his terrific innings. India will now face England in the semi-final of the T20 World Cup 2026. It was a thrilling match between these two sides.
