India will take on Namibia in Match 18 of the 2026 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on February 12, 2026.
Here, we present our preview and predictions for the game.
The defending champions got off to a winning start, though they were made to sweat by a resilient USA side that had a different plan in store for the hosts.
Having lost the swashbuckling Abhishek Sharma for a duck in the second over, both Ishan Kishan and Tilak Varma steadied the Indian ship, before three wickets in the sixth over by Shadley van Schalkwyk rocked them back and left them reeling at 46/4 at the end of the Powerplay. With very little contribution from the rest of the lower-order batters, it was skipper Suryakumar Yadav’s unbeaten knock of 84 off 49 balls that took India past the 160-run mark.
Despite Jasprit Bumrah not playing, Mohammed Siraj, in his first game back, and Arshdeep Singh dismantled the USA top order, before the spin duo of Varun Chakaravarthy and Axar Patel sealed the deal in the middle overs with some quality bowling and discipline.
As far as their opponents for this game are concerned, Namibia faced the Netherlands in their opening Group A fixture and were comfortably beaten by the Dutch thanks to a magnificent all-round performance by Bas de Leede.
Asked to bat first, Namibia — after losing an early wicket — stabilised to 95/2 by the end of the 12th over. However, losing wickets at regular intervals towards the back end meant Gerhard Erasmus’ side could only muster 156, which was at least 20 runs below par.
With the ball, Bernard Scholtz and Ruben Trumpelmann were the pick of the bowlers for Namibia in the second innings. However, with a modest total in front, the Dutch batters didn’t really have to take any undue risks and jeopardise the chase.
Against a quality opposition like India, the Namibian bowlers will have to do a lot better if they want to stand any chance of causing an upset.
In terms of the weather forecast and pitch report, expect conditions to be clear throughout the game. As evident from the last game played here, despite shorter boundaries, there should be something for both batters and bowlers throughout the 40 overs.
Looking ahead to this fixture, that first game against the US was certainly a wake-up call for India and served as a timely reminder that, if you’re not on top of your game, anyone can beat you on any given day.
That said, this Namibian team aren’t as strong as the likes of the USA and the Netherlands in this group, and thus we expect Suryakumar Yadav and Co to make it two in two and head into the major Pakistan clash with a massive dose of confidence.
Fantasy XI: Ishan Kishan (c), Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma (vc), Gerhard Erasmus, Shivam Dube, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Ruben Trumpelmann, Arshdeep Singh, Varun Chakaravarthy, Bernard Scholtz
Venue: Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi
Winners Prediction: India
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