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KOLKATA: Sanju Samson starred as India sealed a five-wicket win over West Indies to set up England semi-final in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026.
The defending champions chased down the challenging target of 197 with four balls to spare.
With this, the four semi-final teams have been locked in.
South Africa will face New Zealand in the first semi-final at Kolkata on March 4 while India will play England in the second semi-final on March 5 at Wankhede.
The hosts were jolted with early blows in the power play, with two of their key batters, Abhishek Sharma and Ishan Kishan, back in the hutch. Both batters were caught after scoring 10 runs each.
After an early wobble, Samson and skipper Suryakumar Yadav held the innings together with a 58-run partnership that took the team’s total to 99 in 10.2 overs.
The stand culminated with Suryakumar’s wicket, who scored 18 from 16 with the aid of a six and a four.
Despite the wicket, Samson held one end together with Tilak Varma playing a brisk knock off 27 from 15 to put the hosts in the driving seat.
Samson was involved in a string of partnerships as he finally took his side home with a boundary on the second ball of the last over.
His unbeaten 97 from 50 included four sixes and 12 boundaries.
For West Indies, Shamar Joseph and Jason Holder scalped two wickets each.
Earlier, Jason Holder and Rovman Powell provided West Indies with a late impetus to help them post a strong total.
Put into bat first, West Indies racked up 195-4 in 20 overs on the back of a solid start from openers Shai Hope and Roston Chase.
The pair added 68 in 8.5 overs as Varun Chakravarthy managed to get one through the gate to get rid of skipper Shai Hope.
The right-hander’s 32 from 33 included a six and three fours.
Following the wicket, West Indies’ leading run scorer in the tournament, Shimron Hetmyer, came to the fore and slammed a brisk 27 from 12 balls to push the run rate. The left-hander hit two maximums and a four in his enterprising knock.
His onslaught took the scorecard to 102 in 11.3 overs before Jasprit Bumrah removed both of the set batters — Hetmyer and Chase (40 off 25 balls) in succession to put India in a strong position.
India managed to keep West Indies quiet, resulting in Sherfane Rutherford’s (14) wicket. As a result, West Indies were reduced to 119-4 in 14.1 overs.
However, Jason Holder and Rovman Powell provided their side a much-needed late impetus with an unbeaten 76* run stand off just 35 balls.
Holder struck three towering sixes and two fours on his way to 37* from 22, whereas Powell also chipped in with a handful of 34 not out off 19 balls, hitting two sixes and three boundaries.
For India, Jasprit Bumrah took two wickets.
