COLOMBO: Pakistan have won the toss and opted to field first against India in the blockbuster ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 match here at the R Premadasa Stadium on Sunday.

Playing XIs

Pakistan: Saim Ayub, Sahibzada Farhan, Salman Agha(c), Babar Azam, Mohammad Nawaz, Shadab Khan, Faheem Ashraf, Usman Khan(w), Shaheen Afridi, Abrar Ahmed and Usman Tariq.

India: Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan(w), Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav(c), Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Rinku Singh, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakaravarthy and Jasprit Bumrah.

Head-to-head

Historically, the two teams have faced each other 16 times in the shortest, with India leading the head-to-head record with 13 wins, while Pakistan emerged victorious thrice.

Their last meeting came in the previous edition of the T20 World Cup, when India successfully defended a modest 120-run target to edge past Pakistan by six runs at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in New York.

In T20 World Cups, however, the two sides have clashed eight times, with India leading 7-1.

Matches: 16
India: 13
Pakistan: 3

Form Guide

Pakistan and India enter the highly anticipated fixture with desired momenta in their favour as the Green Shirts are on a five-match winning streak in the shortest format, while the Men in Blue have just one defeat in their last five completed T20Is.

Furthermore, both sides are currently unbeaten in the ongoing T20 World Cup 2026 after their respective first two matches.

Pakistan beat spirited Netherlands before thumping the United States of America (USA) and sit second in Group A standings with four points in two matches, behind the defending champions on net run rate, who edged past USA and Namibia.

Pakistan: W, W, W, W, W (most recent first)
India: W, W, W, L, W