Glenn Phillips, Rachin Ravindra guide New Zealand to Super Eights

The Men's T20 World Cup 2026 saw its second individual century in two days but this time, it came in a losing cause. Canada opener Yuvraj Samra's 110 off 65 - laced with 11 fours and six sixes, was nearly not enough to help his team post a defendable total. The rest of the batters managed just 63 more and New Zealand chased it down in the 16th over through a scintillating 146-run partnership off 72 deliveries for the third wicket. With that, they booked their spot in the Super Eights.

First about the chase. Despite Samra's ton, the target in front of New Zealand was perhaps under-par for an afternoon fixture in Chennai. Just two days ago, USA scored 199/6 batting first. In a similar fixture against UAE, New Zealand chased down 175 in the 16th over with all 10 wickets intact. A familiar script played out on Tuesday afternoon, even as Canada struck twice early. Finn Allen and Tim Seifert began in their typical style, getting to 29/0 in 2 overs.

But left-arm spinner Saad Bin Zafar put the first spanner in the works by having Seifert caught at mid-off in the third over. Dilon Heyliger then sent Allen packing. On the first ball of the fourth over, Allen looked to flick a leg side ball but it stopped a touch on the surface and flew off the leading edge. Shivam Sharma moved forward at cover and completed a catch just before the ball hit the ground. It needed a TV umpire intervention to send Allen on his way. At 30/2, Canada would've hoped they could ruffle a few more feathers and cause panic in the New Zealand dugout but Phillips and Ravindra stonewalled those aspirations.

They first dragged the team to 60/2 by the end of the PowerPlay, and kept the fours and sixes coming even through the middle-overs. They maintained the 10-an-over scoring rate to get New Zealand to 106/2 at the halfway stage. Phillips then became New Zealand's fastest half-centurion in T20 World Cups - getting there off 22 balls. Canada bowlers just couldn't stem the flow of boundaries as Ravindra dug in too. By the 12th over, the two had their 100-run stand and on the first ball of the 15th, Ravindra reached his fifty with a six. Phillips and Ravindra smashed eight fours and nine sixes between them and wrapped up the chase midway through the 16th over.

Before this phase of play where they were outclassed, Canada enjoyed an afternoon full of hope as 19-year-old Samra led the way for them. He added an opening partnership of 116 runs with Dilpreet Bajwa, who contributed just 36 off 39 deliveries in it. Samra was the aggressor early as he went 4 4 4 6 against James Neesham in the sixth over.

New Zealand pulled things back in the middle overs a little but Samra then decimated Cole McConchie in the 13th over, hitting him for two sixes and a four. Kyle Jamieson broke the opening partnership with the wicket of Bajwa, but Canada managed to hit 57 runs off the last six overs. Samra did a lot of the hitting and became the youngest T20 World Cup centurion in the 17th over, getting there off just 58 deliveries. Matt Henry, Neesham and Jacob Duffy struck at the death and Canada pushed to 173/4, which proved insufficient in the end.

Brief Scores:Canada 173/4 in 20 overs (Yuvraj Samra 110; Jacob Duffy 1-25) lost to New Zealand 176/2 in 15.1 overs (Glenn Phillips 76*, Rachin Ravindra 59*) by 8 wickets