On Thursday in New Delhi, world champions India will likely be without Abhishek Sharma as they face Namibia.
Who: India vs Namibia
What: Group A – ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026
When: February 12, Thursday at 7pm (13:30 GMT)
Where: Arun Jaitley Stadium, New Delhi, India
How to follow and Stream: Live text and photo stream of Al Jazeera starts at 10:30 GMT
When Namibia meet the defending champions India in their Group A match on Thursday, they will look to make the most of an illness-and-injury-plagued Indian side.
After Abhishek Sharma was hospitalised with an upset stomach on Tuesday, India are likely to take the field without him. On the eve of the match, while Abhishek Sharma was discharged, his presence in the playing XI is doubtful.
In opening match of India against the United State, the world’s top-ranked T20I batter struggled.
Indian batter Tilak Varma said reporters on 11 February, 2026 “He has been discharged today, and he is doing well”
“We have got one more day for the game. Hopefully, we decide by tomorrow on how he feels, and we go with it.”
Also Read : https://sportslila.com/ahead-of-t20-world-cup-encounter-vs-namibia-abhishek-sharma-hospitalised/
Namibia await ‘great spectacle’
Namibia will be focusing to move past their heavy loss versus Netherlands on Tuesday and register a shock victory over the two-time world champions.
Craig Williams, the African team’s coach told before the match “Playing India in India – it’s going to be great game for us and the spectacle is going to be fantastic for everyone back home as well,”
“As a professional team, we want to put on a good show, and hopefully, we are going to stick to our game plan, and then we will see what happens at the end of the day.”
The African team’s coach told the strong batting performance at the top of the order will be a key to Namibia’s chances.
The former cricketer told “We need someone in our top four to bat for a prolonged period of time, and then you need partnerships”
“Playing against India won’t be easier, but if we can stick to our game plan, and take one ball at a time, hopefully, the result will then go our way.”
Predicted XI of India: Sanju Samson, Ishan Kishan (wk), Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav (Captain), Hardik Pandya, Rinku Singh, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Varun Chakravarthy.
Predicted XI of Namibia: Louren Steenkamp, Jan Frylinck, Jan Nicol Loftie-Eaton, Gerhard Erasmus (Captain ), JJ Smit, Zane Green (WK), Dylan Leicher, Willem Myburgh, Ruben Trumpelmann, Bernard Scholtz, Max Heingo.
