India and Pakistan's highly anticipated T20 World Cup 2026 Group A match on February 15 at R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo will go ahead as planned, following the resolution of Pakistan's earlier boycott threat over Bangladesh's exclusion. Both unbeaten teams top the group, with India leading on net run rate.
The blockbuster T20 World Cup 2026 India-Pakistan encounter, initially threatened by Pakistan's boycott announced earlier this month in protest of Bangladesh's replacement by Scotland in Group C, has been cleared to proceed amid diplomatic negotiations and ICC interventions.
India tops Group A with four points after wins over USA (by 29 runs) and Namibia (by 93 runs), boasting a net run rate of +3.050. Pakistan sits second with victories against Netherlands and USA, at +0.932.
Head-to-head, India dominates: 13-3 in 16 T20Is overall, and 7-1 in eight T20 World Cup meetings.
India's predicted XI: Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan, Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav (capt), Shivam Dube, Hardik Pandya, Rinku Singh, Axar Patel, Varun Chakravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh.
Pakistan's predicted XI: Saim Ayub, Sahibzada Farhan, Salman Ali Agha (capt), Babar Azam, Usman Khan, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Faheem Ashraf, Shaheen Afridi, Usman Tariq, Abrar Ahmed.
Pakistan captain Salman Agha hopes Abhishek Sharma plays for a 'competitive game.' India captain Suryakumar Yadav confirmed Abhishek's inclusion and readiness to face Usman Tariq, with eyes on Ishan Kishan and Varun Chakravarthy.
Watch live on JioHotstar (streaming) and Star Sports Network (telecast).
Part of the 'T20 World Cup 2026: India-Pakistan Clash' series.