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Team India booked their place in the semifinals of the 2026 T20 World Cup on Sunday, March 1. The Men in Blue beat the West Indies by five wickets at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata.
From a tactical perspective, India did a few things right. They used their bowlers smartly without turning to a sixth option and paced the chase fairly well to get over the line in the last over.
However, it wasn't a perfect game from the Men in Blue. On that note, here are two mistakes and one masterstroke made by India in their T20 World Cup 2026 clash against the West Indies.
#3 Mistake - India sent in Tilak Varma with the Windies having a ton of spin overs
India v West Indies: ICC Men´s T20 World Cup India & Sri Lanka 2026 - Source: Getty
At the fall of Suryakumar Yadav's wicket, India had a choice to make. They could have sent in any of Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube and Axar Patel. The hosts chose Tilak, and while the southpaw delivered with a decent knock, it probably wasn't the best call.
Tilak struck a few sparkling boundaries off the pacers and even cleared the boundary off Roston Chase, but he didn't look comfortable against the Windies off-spinner. He got a bit stuck at the start of his knock, and if not for some buffet balls from the West Indian pacers, he may have taken the required run rate much higher.
Either Dube or Axar should've been sent in at the time, with Sanju Samson going great guns at the other end. That would've prevented Shai Hope from being able to sneak in an over or two of Chase, whose first went for just three.
#2 Masterstroke - Axar Patel completely stifled Shai Hope in the powerplay
India v West Indies: ICC Men´s T20 World Cup India & Sri Lanka 2026 - Source: Getty
After Arshdeep Singh and Hardik Pandya sent down the first three overs, Suryakumar Yadav smartly tossed the ball to Axar Patel. The left-arm spinner hasn't been used in the powerplay in this T20 World Cup as often as he was previously in T20Is, but came up with a stifling two-over spell.
Axar completely shut down Hope, who was trying to break free after three tidy overs from the aforementioned pacers. He generated appreciable inward angle against the Windies skipper, who didn't seem to have any scoring options against that length and trajectory.
Getting two overs of Axar out of the way against Chase and Hope also allowed India to bowl their strike bowlers against the likes of Shimron Hetmyer and Sherfane Rutherford.
#1 Mistake - India should have bowled out Varun Chakaravarthy instead of bringing in Arshdeep Singh
India v West Indies: ICC Men´s T20 World Cup India & Sri Lanka 2026 - Source: Getty
Arshdeep Singh's third over proved horribly expensive. The left-armer sent down a wide that went for four, apart from conceding two sixes and a boundary with misdirected deliveries.
That over brought the West Indies back level with the scoring rate. Arshdeep has been wayward at times lately, and Suryakumar should've been wary of that, especially when he had an over of Varun Chakaravarthy left.
The Indian skipper may have wanted to hold Varun's last over back for Romario Shepherd, but Rovman Powell is a destructive hitter of pace. Getting him out would have put immense pressure on the West Indies, whereas feeding Arshdeep to the big hitter nearly proved disastrous.
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Edited by Sai Krishna
