India clinched a dramatic five-wicket win over the West Indies in Match No. 52 of the T20 World Cup 2026 at Eden Gardens, sealing their place in the semi-finals after a high-scoring contest.

Batting first, West Indies posted an imposing 195/4 in 20 overs. Shai Hope and Roston Chase provided a steady start, putting on 68 runs for the opening wicket in 53 balls. Hope looked fluent before being bowled by Varun Chakravarthy, while Chase compiled a composed 40. Shimron Hetmyer added 27 but fell during a crucial over from Jasprit Bumrah, who shifted the momentum with two key wickets. Sherfane Rutherford managed 14 before edging Hardik Pandya behind.

The innings gained fresh momentum in the death overs as Rovman Powell and Jason Holder launched a counterattack. The duo stitched together an unbeaten 76-run partnership off just 35 balls for the fifth wicket. Powell smashed 34* off 19 deliveries, while Holder struck 37* off 22, lifting the total close to the 200-run mark. Bumrah finished with 2/36, standing out among the Indian bowlers, while Axar Patel maintained control with an economical spell.

Chasing 196, India began cautiously and lost Abhishek Sharma and Ishan Kishan for 10 each. Suryakumar Yadav scored 18, and Tilak Varma injected momentum with a brisk 27 that included three successive boundaries. Hardik Pandya contributed 17, but the chase revolved around a masterclass from Sanju Samson. The wicketkeeper-batter remained unbeaten on 97 off 50 balls, hammering 12 fours and four sixes at a strike rate of 194 to guide India home in 19.2 overs.

Despite efforts from Holder (2/38) and Shamar Joseph (2/42), West Indies could not prevent the chase. India will next face the England national cricket team in the semi-final on March 5 at Wankhede Stadium. In the first semi-final, South Africa will take on New Zealand at Eden Gardens on March 4.

It means the whole world actually to me. I think right from the day I started playing, started dreaming to play for the country, I think this is the day I was waiting for. And I’m very grateful, very thankful. And I’ve always had a very special journey with lots of ups and downs, but I’ve kept on doubting myself, kept on thinking, what if, what if, can I make it, can I make it? But I kept on believing and thanks to the Lord Almighty for actually blessing me today. So I’m very happy. Yeah, I think that’s why I have been playing this format for a very long time. I think playing IPL around 10 to 12 years and playing for the country from last 10 years, I have not been playing, but looking from the dugout, learning from the greats like Virat Kohli, from Rohit Sharma, like all the greats. I think it’s very important to observe and learn and see what they were doing. I think that really helped me to, I think with my experience, I have only played maybe 50, 60 games, but I’ve seen around 100 games and I’ve seen how the greatest people have finished the games and how do they change their game according to the game. So I think the last game we were batting first, so it was all about setting a very high score. So that’s how I wanted to go big right from ball one. But this game was completely different. I think as soon as I wanted to go a bit higher, we were losing wickets. So I think I wanted to build a partnership, wanted to keep focusing on my process. And I never felt that I will do something special like this, but I was just focusing on my role and just keeping one ball at a time and very grateful. I think this is one of the greatest days of my life. Yeah, definitely they do bring a lot of energy and they do bring a lot of support. But I think on the other end, there is always a question, what if not? So definitely that keeps on playing in your mind. But when that thought kept on coming, I just brought myself into the present moment and just looked at the ball and trusted myself to react according to the ball in merit. So I think that worked out pretty well today.

Obviously it's a great feeling. It was like a quarterfinal game. The way the boys showed character, it was a great thing. I always say good things happen to good people who wait. It's all his hard work that he was doing when he wasn't playing and now he's got the fruit. I feel everyone bowled according to the plans. We knew 200 is always a good score to chase. The ball comes on to the bat nicely because of the dew and our plan was to take the game deep. Very happy to be there. The way we played from the first game, I think we deserve to be there in Mumbai. But we won't think of it now. We will take the flight, get to Mumbai and see what to do. When there is no pressure there is no pressure. We are nervous, there are butterflies in the stomach but how you handle it is what matters.

Maybe a few short, especially on a chasing ground such as this. Probably could have gone a bit more at the end. Probably could have got more at the start as well. He is one of their main strike bowlers. Whenever he has got the ball in his hands something is going to happy. Hety was going really well. I thought we were good. The way we adapted to different conditions was good. Forde was good with the ball. Akeal got us wickets as well. Just didn't get over the line today to continue the tournament. You never want to end at this stage. One more game you are in the semis and if you have a good game you are in the final. We got to make sure you play the best cricket on the day. Take the crucial moments and capitalize.