“I think we’ll just rock out and do it the Namibian way – which means fighting,” Gerhard Erasmus said ahead of the World T20 match against India. The small associate nation’s anger stemmed from frustration at not being able to train under the spotlight in preparation for their most watched game of the tournament.
At home, Namibia do not have floodlights in their stadium. For teams that don’t play many matches under lights in international cricket, finding the ball becomes a major issue. Namibia could accept their fate, but the Namibian spirit, as Erasmus said, would not allow them to do so.
So Namibia needed to find a way to make things difficult for the home team.
IND vs NAM T20 WORLD CUP 2026: HIGHLIGHTS | SCORECARD
And they made it complicated. Playing at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi, Gerhard Erasmus’ team restricted India to 209 runs despite being bowled out for 86 runs in the power play. Ask any team around the world, they would be extremely proud of themselves if they could keep a perfect Indian side below 210 runs in a T20I.
IND VS NAM: ERASMUS TURNS THE WEB
A gritty bowling display from the Namibian side saw Suryakumar Yadav, Rinka Singh, Axar Patel and Shivam Dube struggle with the bat and their captain Gerhard Erasmus spearheaded the attack. The 30-year-old recorded figures of 4-0-20-4, his best ever in the format. Erasmus extracted every bit of knowledge from his cricketing brain to ensure that the Indian batters never really settled at the crease. Gerhard Erasmus celebrates one of his wickets against India in New Delhi. (Photo by Reuters)
Erasmus basically emptied the whole magic bag against India’s firepower loaded batting line-up. High arm, round arm, side arm, he rolled out all possible releases, then mixed pace and bounce with classic off-spin, overspin and a tricky straightener. Result? Big wickets by Ishan Kishan, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya and Axar Patel. And to make matters worse, Gerhard also got away with a crisp run-out when he caught Shivam Dube at short in the 19th over.
“Listen, he’s been a cricket nerd since he was six,” proud father Francois Erasmus told India Today.
“The first World Cup we played in was the 2003 World Cup – the 50-over World Cup in South Africa. I was managing the Namibian side then. Gerhard was seven in 2003 and at that time he knew every player in that World Cup – be it Bangladesh, India. He knew every team’s batting order, he knew everything. He was always a student of the game,” he added. Gerhard Erasmus’ parents Francois and Risda. (Photo: Kingshuk Kusari)
This preparation showed in Gerhard’s bowling on Thursday, February 12, when he dismissed a rampaging Ishan Kishan with the very first ball of his spell. As luck would have it, in the next 23 balls of his spell, Erasmus proved that he studied and studied to give his team the best possible chance in this game.
“He’s just always been passionate about cricket. He played other sports, but at 15 he decided to leave rugby and hockey and focus purely on cricket. To his credit, that passion has been the same throughout the last 14 years he’s been playing for Namibia,” added Francois.
T20 WORLD CUP: THE SPIRIT OF NAMIBIA
Namibia may not be a big cricketing nation, or even an important one. But its history is definitely one of the most amazing in the world. As early as 25,000 BC, the first people lived in the south of the country. The Huns Mountains are still home to some of the oldest works of art ever discovered, a testament to the richness of Namibia’s heritage. Like many African nations, Namibia has gone through battles with colonialism and occupation, but fought through it all and did it again on February 12 in New Delhi.
Gerhard Erasmus confronted India with this fighting spirit in Delhi on Thursday. In his complete spell, he was hit for sixes only twice – Suryakumar Yadav and Hardik Pandya. Otherwise, he did not reveal a single boundary. After dismissing Ishan Kishan in the 8th over, he played the 10th quietly and then with a smart piece of bowling dismissed Tilak Varma in the 12th over. Gerhard Erasmus registered his best ever figures in T20Is. (Photo by Reuters)
In the next variation, Erasmus bowled the ball from 25 yards instead of 22 and trapped Tilak with a fly ball. And then, in a bold move, he stood up in the 19th over and dismissed Hardik Pandya, ran out Shivam Dube and dismissed Axar Patel, halting India’s late surge in strength.
It would be a big win for Erasmus, who spoke just before the match about the overwhelming feeling of playing against India. Namibia don’t usually play in front of a crowd of 50,000, under the lights. And how this opportunity tends to get the better of every man.
“Yeah, it can be overwhelming. As a person, it can be overwhelming when you’re thrown into things you’ve never seen in your life,” Erasmus said the day before the game.
THE CREATION OF GERHARD ERASMUS
Chasing down 209 runs was not Namibia’s cup of tea, but they gave it a decent fight, at least in the powerplay. Openers Louren Steenkamp and Jan Frylinck got them off to a decent start and took the team to 57/1 in the over. However, things started to unravel with the arrival of spinner Varun Chakravarthy, who in his spell struck with the first ball, much like Erasmus.
The Namibia captain came in to bat at No.4 and hit 2 sixes off Axar Patel. While the former landed just over the line, the latter was huge. The second, Erasmus, managed to momentarily silence the Indian crowd at the Arun Jaitley Stadium.
“It was fascinating to coach him. I could throw him a thousand balls in a weekend and he would just hit,” laughed Francois.
As Francois burst out laughing, mom Risda Erasmus chimed in, “it was so bad that (Francois) got tennis elbow.” Gerhard Erasmus hit two sixes against Axar Patel but got to him. (AP photo)
The ability to hit big shots against a top spinner is not born in a day. Over the past few years, the small Namibia Cricket community has built strong relationships with the Indian Cricket Board and the ICC. In the last 2 years, Karnataka and Assam have traveled to Namibia for pre-season training and the ICC is building state-of-the-art facilities in the country in preparation for the 2027 ODI World Cup where Namibia is expected to host 4 matches.
But Erasmus could not carry it with him. With wickets falling around him, he chose the wrong ball to attack, failed to get close to it and ended up taking a catch at long-on to end his innings of 18 runs.
“TO PLAY THE WORLD CUP IS A PRIVILEGE”
Despite the poor result, the Namibian players and their traveling group of supporters see the opportunity to play in the World Cup as a privilege.
As mentioned, Namibia engages in cricket exchanges with India. The Post has learned that the country’s cricket board has discussed other opportunities with the BCCI and more Indian teams are expected to travel to Namibia in the future and the African country will send its players to India to train as well.
“We felt that the energy of cricket came from the subcontinent and the Indian community,” Gerhard Erasmus said on the sidelines of Thursday’s match.
“As a player, it’s special to experience that and give back to the people who do cricket. You know, in Namibia, it’s a very family-oriented support system that we have. Being from a small population, it’s very tight. Connecting with the fans is easy and they’re part of what we do, it’s natural for us. We really welcome it,” he added.
“It’s strange to have a group of 25-30 people traveling with our team. It’s strange. That’s why you play cricket,” the Namibian captain concluded.
And maybe that’s what this week in Delhi was about for them – not just the result, but the experience of being in the middle of it. Noise. Lights. The scale of it all.
Namibia may not have the spotlight at home. They might not be playing in front of 50,000 people every week. They don’t always win these games.
But for four matches in Delhi, under the harsh glare of the Arun Jaitley Stadium, Gerhard Erasmus did not look like an associate nation cricketer struggling to survive. He looked like a captain who studied every at-bat, calculated every angle and believed his team belonged.
India could have won. Namibia may not have had a chance with the bat. The tournament will continue.
But the game about India – and especially those four overs – will stay with Gerhard Erasmus for a long time.
T20 World Cup | T20 World Cup Schedule | T20 World Cup Points Table | T20 World Cup Videos | Cricket News | Live Score
– The end
Issued by:
Kingshuk Kusari
Published on:
February 13, 2026