Among those who offered prayers were Axar Patel, Ishan Kishan and Abhishek Sharma. The players took darshan at the shrine as the team geared up for one of its most important matches of the tournament.
Sikandar Raza conceded that Zimbabwe’s inability to stick to their defensive plans with the ball proved costly in their 72-run defeat to India in the Super Eights clash at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on Thursday. A lack of discipline allowed India’s batters to dominate, powering their way to 256/4.
It was the revamped opening duo of Abhishek Sharma (55) and Sanju Samson (24) who laid the platform with an aggressive start.
Powered by explosive half-centuries from Abhishek Sharma and Hardik Pandya, India piled up 256/4, their highest total in the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2026.
Dube’s all-round show, scoring 66 with the bat and 2/35 with the ball, along with Varun Chakravarthy’s superb 3/14, extended India’s winning streak to 12 matches in T20 World Cups.
India will look to maintain momentum and fine-tune their middle order ahead of their highly anticipated clash against Pakistan on February 15.
Star pacer Mohammed Siraj has been named as a replacement for Harshit Rana, who was ruled out of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 after sustaining a knee injury during a warm-up match against South Africa in Navi Mumbai on February 4.
Tilak described the atmosphere during India’s warm-up match against South Africa at a packed DY Patil Stadium as a major confidence booster, especially with fans chanting his name as he walked out to bat.
Kishan’s maiden T20I century and a half-century in the series virtually forced the team management’s hand, making it increasingly untenable to persist with an out-of-form opener on the eve of a T20 World Cup defence.
The 34-year-old batter, speaking in a video posted by the BCCI, shared insights into his rehabilitation at the state-of-the-art facility. "I'm feeling good. Good process and routine for the last six weeks and fingers crossed. Feeling really well," he said.
