India Smashes T20 World Cup Record With 10th Straight Win, Crushes Namibia

The previous record stood in the name of Australia and South Africa who have won 8 successive matches each.

Wrist-spinner Varun Chakaravarthy claimed 3-7 after India posted 209/9 in their 20 overs, powered by Ishan Kishan's blistering 61 off 24 balls and Hardik Pandya's 52 off 28 balls. Namibia's captain Gerhard Erasmus was the pick of their bowlers, returning figures of 4-20 with his slingy style and myriad of variations.

Namibia's chase began brightly with Louren Steenkamp and Jan Frylinck attacking in the powerplay, but Chakravarthy's spell dismantled their middle order. Every Indian bowler chipped in with at least a wicket as Namibia were bowled out for 116 in 18.2 overs. The 93-run margin is also India's biggest victory in Men's T20 World Cup history, underlining their dominance despite occasional lapses in the match.

Namibia's chase began with Jan Frylinck taking a four and six off Hardik Pandya, before driving and pulling Arshdeep Singh for two boundaries. But Arshdeep struck back in the fourth over as Frylinck miscued a knuckle ball to deep mid-wicket. Louren Steenkamp carved Arshdeep for two boundaries and a six slashed over the short third, as Namibia ended Power-play at 57/1.

After Namibia milked 10 runs from Jasprit Bumrah's opening over, Varun Chakaravarthy turned the game in the eighth over - his first ball was a googly that castled Steenkamp for 29. Loftie-Eaton and Erasmus tried to rebuild, but Varun's accuracy kept them quiet.

Though Axar Patel was greeted with back-to-back slog-sweeping sixes from Gerhard Erasmus in the ninth over, Varun returned to dismantle Namibia further - having Loftie-Eaton hole out to long-off, while castling JJ Smit with another googly.

Axar joined the wicket-taker charts when Erasmus holed out to long-off and then had Malan Kruger top-edging a sweep to short fine leg, who managed to hang on to the ball at the last moment. Bumrah, who came in for Mohammed Siraj, nailed a yorker on the base of off-stump to castle Ruben Trumpelmann, while Hardik bagged two scalps and Shivam Dube had Zane Green dismissed via hit wicket to help India get their tenth consecutive win in the T20 World Cups.

Numbers game between India v Namibia match:

10: This was India's 10th consecutive wins in the T20 WC. It is a new world record. Previous record stood in the name of Australia and South Africa who have won 8 successive matches each.

4: Gerhard Erasmus who took 4/20 in Delhi became the fourth captain to capture four wickets in a T20 WC match. Rashid Khan of Afghanistan, Daniel Vettori of New Zealand, Zeeshan Maqsood of Oman are the others. Rashid Khan achieved this feat twice. He took 4/17 v NZ in Providence in 2024 and 4/23 v Bangladesh in Kingstown ,2024.

4: India scored 209 for 9 in their allotted 20 overs. In the history of T20WC , it was the 4th occasion when India managed to score 200 or more runs during an innings.

47: Now India has scored 200 plus runs in T20Is 47 times. This is also a new world record. After India, South Africa has scored 200 plus in T20Is for the 29 times.

4: Ishan Kishan completed his fifty in just 20 balls. In T20WCs it was the 5th instance when an Indian batter completed his 50 in 20 or less balls. Yuvraj Singh achieved this feat twice. Yuvraj completed his 50 v England in Durban in 2007 off just 12 balls ( a world record) while against Australia in Durban in 2007 he also completed his half-century off just 20 balls.

6.5: India took only 6.5 overs to reach 100, the least overs taken by a team in T20 WC. The previous record was held by Netherlands who completed their 100 in 7 overs.

- IANS