Buoyed USA look for another memorable evening in Chennai

Qualification might be a bridge too far in a competitive group, but Monank Patel's USA will be floating with confidence after picking their first points of the T20 World Cup two days ago. Chennai turned up in big numbers for a non-India game and witnessed USA dismantle Netherlands for a comfortable victory. So what next for a side that lost its two previous fixtures to the heavyweights India and Pakistan? Another two points and faint hopes of a miracle.

Beating Namibia will take them to four points, on level with India and Pakistan who play each other next. USA's campaign can stay alive until that juncture if they can produce another good performance in a short turnaround to pocket the two points on Sunday.

Namibia, meanwhile, reached Chennai with two losses from as many games, yet there must be confidence bubbling in their dressing room. For long phases of their fixture in Delhi, they pushed India and will believe they have the wherewithal to take the game to the USA. Gerhard Erasmus has led by example and was phenomenal with the ball against India. He will have his team training their sights on their first points of the tournament.

When: USA vs Namibia, February 15, 2026, 3 PM local time
Where: MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai
What to expect: A high-scoring evening? In the one 3 PM game at the venue so far, UAE posted 173/6, but saw it chased comfortably by New Zealand's openers in the 16th over.

Fresh from a massive win at this venue, USA should be unchanged.

USA Probable XI: Monank Patel (c), Shayan Jahangir (wk), Saiteja Mukkamalla, Milind Kumar, Sanjay Krishnamurthi, Shubham Ranjane, Harmeet Singh, Mohammad Mohsin, Shadley van Schalkwyk, Nosthush Kenjige, Ali Khan

After their performance against India, Namibia will believe they're good enough to taste success at least once. They should field the same XI.

Namibia Probable XI: Louren Steenkamp, Jan Frylinck, Jan Nicol Loftie-Eaton, Gerhard Erasmus (c), JJ Smit, Malan Kruger, Zane Green (wk), Ruben Trumpelmann, Bernard Scholtz, Ben Shikongo, Max Heingo

Namibia head coach Craig Williams: "We got a lot of confidence from the last game against an extremely strong Indian team. We're feeling good going into this game. We've prepared extremely well and had really good training sessions."

USA captain Monank Patel: "It was a tough start to the World Cup for us, but we've learned a lot from those matches, and that's helped us."