‘Second time in T20 World Cup history’, THIS star batter retired out in Namibia vs USA match

There have been 28 matches played in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026. Teams like India and West Indies have qualified for the Super 8. On the other hand, teams like Namibia, Oman, and Nepal have been eliminated from the tournament.

Star player retired out in Namibia vs USA clash:

The tournament took a different direction. During the Group A match between USA and Namibia, Namibia took a step while chasing a 200-run mammoth target and retired their star wicketkeeper-batter Zane Green after 18 overs, as they needed a batter to play with an attacking approach. Green failed to deliver that for his team.

Speaking about the scenario, Zane Green smashed a reverse-lap shot off Saurabh Netravalkar’s delivery, which went for a boundary and took him to 18 runs off 13 balls. However, Namibia decided to retire him out and gave the strike to Ruben Trumpelmann for the last two overs due to the big target, as Namibia needed 51 runs off 12 balls. However, they could score only 19 runs, and Trumpelmann scored just 3 runs off 2 balls.

Namibia Coach Ruben Trumpelmann explains the decision

“We needed 28 an over and Ruben Trumpelmann is our next guy in, and he can access the boundaries easier, so that was the thought process,” Namibia coach Craig Williams said in a post-match press conference.

“Look, both JJ [Smit] and Zane struggled to time the ball, which is a compliment to the USA bowlers. So it just came up [in the dugout] that Ruben has been… he does hit the ball in the back end for us and he’s had some success over there. So it was just a tactical decision,” he added.

Second such incident in T20 World Cup history

In the tournament’s history, it was only the second time a batter has retired out in an innings. The unique fact is that both times the decision was made by Namibia. In 2024, opening batter Nikolaas Davin retired out for 18 runs off 16 balls in a rain-shortened match against England in Antigua. That decision was made to bring in David Wiese, as the team were chasing 126 runs in 10 overs.

Speaking about the game, Namibia lost by 31 runs in Chennai. This is not all. They are also eliminated from the tournament. They have only one match left against Pakistan in Colombo, which is more of a formality and does not affect the points table.