Powered by Ishan Kishan’s 40-ball 77, India managed to put on board 175/7 in 20 overs after being asked to bat first by Pakistan in a crucial Group A clash in the ongoing T20 World Cup 2026 at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo on Sunday. With both the teams winning two games each, a win today will send either teams into the Super 8 stage.
On a tough batting track, India lost Abhishek Sharma for a duck before Ishan Kishan put the pressure back on Pakistan with a 27-ball fifty. However, at a time when it looked like Kishan would become the first player to score a hundred in India vs Pakistan clashes in T20 World Cups, the Indian was cleaned up by Saim Ayub.
A 32-run knock from captain Suryakumar Yadav down the order helped India to go past 170 in 20 overs. In fact, India’s 175/s is the highest score by a team in IND vs PAK clashes in the history of the T20 World Cups. In fact, this was the highest Pakistan had conceded in T20Is against India.
Meanwhile, the highest successful run chase in an India vs Pakistan T20Is is 182 by the Men in Green, during the 2022 Asia Cup in Dubai. Batting first, India rode on Virat Kohli’s 44-ball 60 to post 181/7 in 20 overs.
In reply, Pakistan romped home with just one ball to spare, with five wickets in hand. Wicketkeeper-batsman Mohammad Rizwan (71 off 51) and Mohammad Nawaz (42 off 20) were the top performers for Pakistan. For the record, Pakistan have chased down a target against India just three out of seven times in history of T20Is.
Earlier, India captain Suryakumar Yadav maintained his stance of not shaking hands with his Pakistani counterpart Salman Ali Agha at the coin toss. The cricket teams of the nuclear-armed neighbors only meet in multi-nation tournaments at neutral venues as part of a compromise deal. It has been more than 18 years since India and Pakistan last met in a Test match, and 13 years since either side crossed the border to play a bilateral series.
While Pakistan went unchanged, India made two changes – Abhishek Sharma and Kuldeep Yadav replacing Sanju Samson and Arshdeep Singh.
India vs Pakistan playing XIs
Pakistan: Sahibzada Farhan, Saim Ayub, Salman Agha (captain), Babar Azam, Shadab Khan, Usman Khan (wicketkeeper), Mohammad Nawaz, Faheem Ashraf, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Usman Tariq, Abrar Ahmed.
India: Ishan Kishan (wicketkeeper), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav (captain), Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Rinku Singh, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah.
