WHO: India vs Namibia
What: ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 – Group A
when: Thursday, February 12 at 7pm (13:30 GMT)
where: Arun Jaitley Stadium, New Delhi, India
How to follow and stream: Al Jazeera’s live text and photo stream begins at 10:30 GMT
Namibia will look to make the most of an ill- and injury-plagued Indian side when they take on the defending champions in their Group A clash on Thursday.
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India are likely to be without opener Abhishek Sharma after he was admitted to hospital on Tuesday due to a stomach ache.
Sharma was discharged on the eve of the match, but his presence in the playing XI is doubtful.
The world’s top-ranked T20I batsman struggled in India’s opening match against the US.
“He has been discharged today and is fine,” Indian batsman Tilak Verma told reporters.
“We’ve got one more game day. Hopefully, we’ll decide tomorrow how he feels and we’ll go with him.”
In good news for the world champions, pacer Jasprit Bumrah is expected to make a comeback after he missed the opener due to fever.
Namibia expects a ‘great spectacle’
Meanwhile, Namibia will look to overturn their big defeat against the Netherlands on Tuesday and record a shock win over the two-time world champions.
The African team’s coach, Craig Williams, admitted that his team faced a tough challenge against India, but wanted to mount a challenge against the pre-tournament favourites.
“Playing India in India – it will be a great game for us and a fantastic spectacle for everyone back home,” Williams said ahead of the match.
“As a professional team, we want to put on a good show and hopefully, we stick to our game plan and then we’ll see what happens at the end of the day.”
Williams said the key to Namibia’s chances would be a strong batting line-up at the top of the order.
“We need someone in our top four to bat for a long period and then you need a partnership,” said the former cricketer.
“It won’t be easy to play against India, but if we can stick to our game plan and take it one ball at a time, hopefully, the result will go our way.”
Form Guide: India
India are on an eight-match unbeaten run at the T20 World Cup, leading to their title campaign in 2024.
They lost one of their five T20Is against New Zealand last month.
Last five matches (most recent first): WWLWW
Form Guide: Namibia
The biggest result in Namibia’s cricket history came in October, when they defeated South Africa by four wickets in the 2024 final.
They haven’t been lucky enough to play international matches regularly, but could challenge if one of their key players impresses.
Last five matches (most recent first): LWLWW
Team News: India
India’s team has been plagued by a number of illnesses and injuries, but Suryakumar Yadav’s side have plenty of strength on the bench to pull off another win.
Bumrah could return to the XI in place of his stand-in Mohammad Siraj and Sanju Samson could replace Sharma at the top of the order.
Predicted XI: Sanju Samson, Ishan Kishan (wicketkeeper), Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav (captain), Hardik Pandya, Rinku Singh, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Varun Chakravarthy
Team News: Namibia
Namibia can field the same XI that lost to the Netherlands, hoping to reverse the result this time.
Predicted XI: Lauren Steenkamp, Jan Frylink, Jan Nicole Lofty-Eaton, Gerhard Erasmus (captain), JJ Smit, Zane Green (keeper), Dylan Leicher, Willem Myberg, Ruben Trumpelman, Bernard Scholtz, Max Hengo
