After days of boycott threats, political signalling, and frantic negotiations, cricket’s most bankable fixture has survived yet another storm. The ICC’s biggest commercial draw is back on the calendar, and once again the T20 World Cup finds itself bending around a single evening. Move over, tournament narratives, it is India vs Pakistan time. The folklore of the India-Pakistan clashes is rich and enduring. It is a rivalry layered with history, tension, brilliance, and heartbreak.
Yet the two neighbours’ stormy political relationship has often cast a shadow over bilateral cricket and even multi-nation tournaments like the Asia Cup. In recent years, the ICC’s decision to place the two sides in the same group at global events, guaranteeing at least one contest and the possibility of another in the knockouts, has only amplified the commercial gravity of the fixture. Inevitably, it has also meant that one match often looms larger than the tournament itself.
IND vs PAK, T20 World Cup: Live updates
The India vs Pakistan group clash will get underway at 7 pm IST. JioHotstar will offer livestreaming, while Star Sports will provide TV coverage of the match in India.
Which is why, less than a week ago, the prospect of this game not taking place sent tremors across the cricketing world. Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif reiterated that his country would stand by Bangladesh and not play India, triggering uncertainty over the tournament schedule.
For a brief period, the most lucrative contest in world cricket looked like a non-starter. What followed was a flurry of diplomacy. Weeks of back-channel negotiations, ICC chair interventions and government-level conversations culminated in a decisive tripartite meeting in Lahore involving the International Cricket Council, the Pakistan Cricket Board and the Bangladesh Cricket Board.
Publicly, the emphasis was on protecting the “spirit of cricket.” Privately, the financial stakes were impossible to ignore.
India–Pakistan remains cricket’s biggest revenue driver. Across formats, it guarantees massive television audiences and advertising returns. Industry estimates valued this match at around $250 million, reason enough for every stakeholder to push for its return. With the impasse resolved, the ICC, Sri Lanka and the broadcasters can breathe easier. Their most reliable money-spinner is back on track.
On the field, both sides have done their job efficiently. India and Pakistan have eased past their early opponents to sit 2-0 in Group A. Yet this contest has rarely been about points or net run rate. It exists in its own emotional ecosystem.
Sunday is about history and pride. It is about the noise in the stands and the tension in the dressing rooms. Mohsin Naqvi, central to the off-field turbulence, has arrived in Colombo to rally the Pakistan squad, a symbolic reminder that in India vs Pakistan, the stakes are never confined to cricket alone.
CAN WE TALK ABOUT CRICKET NOW?
India vs Pakistan. Just saying it makes cricket fans sit up. For a few hours on Sunday, perhaps the conversation could return to cricket alone. That is reason enough to switch on the television and hope for a thriller. Off-the-field pressures will follow Suryakumar Yadav and Salman Ali Agha’s men onto the R. Premadasa International Cricket Stadium.
A neutral venue does little to soften the intensity. Indian supporters have braved soaring airfares and hotel rates for an evening that carries far more weight than two points. Preparation has differed. India arrived only on Friday night and had a single practice session to adjust. A brief concern around Abhishek Sharma has eased after his recovery from illness.
Pakistan, operating under the hybrid model chalked out last year, have been based in Colombo for weeks. That extended stay has given them a clearer understanding of conditions at the RPICS, where the surface was slow and demanding. India carry both a cricketing and psychological edge.
Their three Asia Cup wins over Pakistan came in three distinct ways—through bowling control, batting authority and tactical superiority in a final that reopened familiar wounds. In T20Is, India’s top order can overwhelm attacks, the middle order adds power and balance, the spin unit offers rare variety, and the pace battery is led by Jasprit Bumrah.
It may look daunting for Pakistan, but writing them off would be careless. For all the gap that seems to have widened, they know how close they have come to building a T20 World Cup streak against India. After their dominant win in 2021, they let control slip in Melbourne in 2022 and again in New York in 2024.
Those losses exposed the thin divide between belief and hesitation. When moments present themselves, as they did in those matches and in last year’s Asia Cup final, Pakistan must take them decisively.
Keeping up with the hybrid model chalked out last year, Pakistan have been stationed in Colombo, and it has given them a better understanding of the pitch and conditions here. The pitch at the RPICS has been a speed-sucker, and the 2009 champions have five capable spinners in their ranks, Usman Tariq, Saim Ayub, Abrar Ahmed, Shadab Khan and Mohammad Nawaz. Tariq’s sidearm stop-and-pause action has already become the talk of the town and the battle with the versatile Indian batters would be an intriguing sub-plot of the showdown.
Analysts, commentators and social media have all had their say. In fact, Pakistan captain Salman Ali Agha has thrown his weight firmly behind the unorthodox Usman Tariq, describing the ‘pause and sling’ off-spinner as Pakistan’s “trump card” against India on a tacky Premadasa pitch in their T20 World Cup clash on Sunday.
“When you get an out-of-syllabus question, you try to solve it,” the Indian skipper said when he was asked about Tariq’s variations.
Pakistan’s batting, led by Sahibzada Farhan with support from Ayub and all-rounder Faheem Ashraf, can shift momentum quickly. Yet they are yet to face a bowling attack of India’s quality, having opened against the Netherlands and the USA. India, by contrast, possesses proven match-winners across departments.
From Bumrah’s precision to Varun Chakravarthy’s mystery and Shivam Dube’s growing value with the ball, the defending champions have flexibility in their combinations.
Whatever the scoreboard reads, Sunday’s clash promises drama, spectacle and the raw intensity that only India vs Pakistan can deliver.
IND vs PAK: COLOMBO PITCH REPORT
The match will be played on the same pitch that hosted Australia vs Zimbabwe. There was a thin layer of grass on it on Saturday, which suggests it may play a little flatter than usual at this venue. Pakistan, who have been based in Colombo for weeks, are expected to rely heavily on spin to challenge India’s stroke-makers.
IND vs PAK: COLOMBO WEATHER
Now that the political drama has subsided, attention turns to a different uncertainty: the weather. A late northeast-monsoon spillover is forecast to sweep across Colombo during Sunday night’s match window. The Sri Lankan Department of Meteorology has warned of a low-pressure system over the Bay of Bengal, bringing up to a 70 percent chance of rain.
As captains often admit on the eve of big games, only so much lies within their control. The weather is not one of those things. Nor, to an extent, is the pitch. At this venue, surfaces have generally played on the slower side, offering an appreciable turn, far from the belter many had anticipated for an occasion of this magnitude.
Rain on the previous day forced the covers on in the afternoon, underlining how quickly plans can be disrupted. Between the skies above and the surface below, adaptability may prove just as decisive as skill. Whether Pakistan can halt their recent slide or India stretch their dominance to 8-1 could ultimately hinge on one simple factor: whether the weather allows a full contest.
IND vs PAK: TEAM NEWS
Abhishek Sharma has recovered in time for the match and is expected to replace Sanju Samson. India are also considering adding an extra spin option, which could see Washington Sundar or Kuldeep Yadav come in for Arshdeep Singh.
India (Predicted XI): Ishan Kishan (wk), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav (capt), Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Rinku Singh, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah.
Pakistan appear set to retain Babar Azam in the middle order, and after a strong performance against USA, there is little pressure to alter the combination. Fakhar Zaman could be drafted in, possibly in place of Usman Khan, which would allow Sahibzada Farhan to take up wicketkeeping duties. Major changes, however, seem unlikely.
Pakistan (Predicted XI): Sahibzada Farhan (wk), Saim Ayub, Salman Agha (capt), Babar Azam, Shadab Khan, Usman Khan/Fakhar Zaman, Mohammad Nawaz, Faheem Ashraf, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Usman Tariq, Abrar Ahmed.
IND vs PAK: CAPTAIN’S CORNER
“When you play an India-Pakistan game, it is more about the occasion. It is a platform. You can say what you want, that it is just another game. But you know which game you are going to play. And we don’t play them often,” says Suryakumar Yadav, India captain, without hiding behind the clich that it is just another game.
“This game between India and Pakistan has always been a big magnitude match and will continue to remain so even in the future. We were prepared for everything, whether we got to play tomorrow’s game or not. We can’t do anything about rain. If the overs will be reduced, we know what we need to do,” said Salman Agha, Pakistan captain, about the uncertainty surrounding the contest.
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