What happened when India last played Namibia in a World Cup match? Check details

India is all set to play its last group stage match of the ongoing ICC T20 World Cup against Namibia on Sunday, November 8. India and Namibia have met just once in an ICC event, which happened in the 2003 Cricket World Cup in South Africa. The game is most notably remembered for the 244-run partnership between Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly. While Sachin scored a magnificent 152 off 151 balls, Ganguly remained unbeaten at 112 off 119 balls to help India post a mammoth total of 311 runs. 

Namibia had won the toss and elected to field first against India. Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar opened the batting for the Men in Blue. Sehwag scored 24 off 24 balls before being dismissed by Rudi van Vuuren. Tendulkar, along with his captain Sourav Ganguly, when on to forge a 244-run partnership before it was broken by van Vuuren again. Indian all-rounder Yuvraj Singh joined the part and scored 7 off 7 balls to close the innings alongside Ganguly. 

In reply, Indian bowlers demolished Namibia for just 130 runs. No batter could breach the single-digit mark except for Jan-Berrie Burger, skipper Deon Kotze, Melt van Schoor and Burton van Rooi, who scored 29, 27, 24, and 17 runs respectively. Zaheer Khan, Harbhajan Singh, and Dinesh Mongia picked two wickets each in the match, while Yuvraj Singh picked 4 wickets in only 4.3 overs, leaving Namibia shellshocked over their batting performance. Namibia lost the match by 181 runs. 

India vs Namibia in T20 World Cup 2021

As far as tomorrow's encounter between the two sides is concerned, Namibia will come into the game with no pressure on them whatsoever as they are already out of the competition after registering three losses in four games. If Afghanistan is able to upset New Zealand today, India will come with a mindset to demolish Namibia in order to improve their net run rate and qualify for the semi-final stage of the T20 World Cup. If India loses against Namibia, the winner of New Zealand versus Afghanistan clash will make it to the knockout stage. The match is slated to take place at Dubai International Stadium at 7:30 pm IST. 

Image: ICC/Twitter