India set sights on hat-trick of wins as Pakistan challenge looms large in T20 World Cup

It’s the big day in the 2026 T20 World Cup as two arch-rivals are all set to lock horns in Colombo. India will be facing off against Pakistan in a bid to solidify their position at the top of the points table in Group A. Ahead of the crucial clash, the Men in Blue sit atop the pile with four points and a superlative net run rate.

As the record in the T20 World Cup goes, history would suggest, Team India has dictated this rivalry by a staggering margin. In the last two games played by the Men in Blue though, there were a few areas of concern which Suryakumar Yadav would hope to be fixed ahead of this big fixture.

While not much would rely on the fate of this fixture in terms of qualification and points table,  an India-Pakistan contest is always bound to garner attention.

So far, India have vanquished USA and Namibia in their first two outings. Pakistan, on the other hand got the better of Netherlands and USA to secure two wins from two games.

Abhishek Sharma’s availability might be a major moot ahead of the contest and the reports state that the southpaw will be available for the upcoming clash against Pakistan. For the latter, they almost have a full squad and injuries or ailments will not be a concern.

Venue watch:

The surface in Colombo has been a balanced track with assistance for both batters and bowlers. Batters tend to dictate proceedings in the second half of the game while the team bowling first usually sets the tone of the narrative. The bounce on the surface is as true as it gets with the batters touted to secure full value for their shots. However, the breeze in Colombo can also be a crucial element in getting some significant movement for the seamers.

Match details:

Match – India vs Pakistan, ICC T20 World Cup, 2026

Venue –R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo

Date –15th February, 2026

Time – 7:00 PM

Head-to-head:

Matches played - 16

India - 13

Pakistan - 3

Squads:

India:

Suryakumar Yadav (c), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Sanju Samson, Shivam Dube, Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakaravarthy, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Rinku Singh

Pakistan:

Salman Agha (c), Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Faheem Ashraf, Fakhar Zaman, Khawaja Mohammad Nafay (wk), Mohammad Nawaz, Salman Mirza, Naseem Shah, Sahibzada Farhan (wk), Saim Ayub, Shaheen Afridi, Shadab Khan, Usman Khan, Usman Tariq