COMOMBO, FEB 15: Pakistan suffered a 61-run defeat against India in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 group-stage clash at R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo, on Sunday.

Ishan Kishan’s blistering half-century, followed by a collective bowling effort, led India to victory.

Set to chase a daunting 176-run target, Pakistan’s batting unit could accumulate 114 before getting bowled out in 18 overs.

Pakistan had a disastrous start to the pursuit as India’s pace duo of Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya ran through their top order – Sahibzada Farhan (zero), Saim Ayub (six) and captain Salman Ali Agha (four) – inside two overs with just 13 runs on the board.

Following the early debacle, wicketkeeper batter Usman Khan walked out to bat at No.5 and soon took the reins of Pakistan’s pursuit.

Usman shared a one-sided 21-run partnership for the fourth wicket with Babar Azam (five), who was cleaned up by Axar Patel in the fifth over.

The 30-year-old was then involved in a cautious 39-run partnership for the fifth wicket with all-rounder Shadab Khan until Axar struck again to draw curtains on his grit.

Usman remained the top-scorer with a valiant 44 off 34 deliveries, featuring six fours and a six.

His dismissal was followed by two more setbacks as Pakistan lost Mohammad Nawaz (four) and set-batter Shadab (14) in successive overs and were thus reduced to 78/7 in 12.1 overs.

All-rounder Faheem Ashraf (10) and lower-order batter Shaheen Shah Afridi then raised 19 runs for the eighth wicket before falling prey to Varun Chakravarthy, who struck again in the 16th over to send back Abrar Ahmed for a golden duck and brought the total down to 97/9.

Pandya then inflicted the decisive blow on Pakistan by cleaning up No.11 Usman Tariq.

For India, Bumrah, Patel, Pandya and Chakravarthy led the way with two wickets each, while Kuldeep Yadav and Tilak Varma.

Pakistan captain Salman Ali Agha’s decision to field first did not prove beneficial for the Green Shirts as the Men in Blue accumulated 175/7 in their 20 overs.

India got off to a dismal start to their innings as Pakistan captain Salman Ali Agha’s decision to open the attack gave them a massive breakthrough in the form of top-ranked T20I batter Abhishek Sharma, who fell for a four-ball duck.

Following the early stutter, opener Kishan forced an astounding recovery by putting together a one-sided second-wicket partnership with Tilak Varma.

The partnership frustrated Pakistan’s bowling unit and yielded 87 runs off 45 deliveries before Saim Ayub gave the Green Shirts a much-needed breakthrough by getting rid of set batter Kishan, who remained the top-scorer with a 40-ball 77, comprising 10 fours and three sixes.

Kishan’s dismissal forced the new pair of Varma and Suryakumar Yadav to rework the innings as they batted cautiously to add 38 runs for the third-wicket stand before Saim pulled things back by dismissing the left-handed batter and Hardik Pandya (zero) in successive deliveries.

Varma made a cautious 25 off 24 deliveries with the help of two fours and a six.

With the scoreboard reading 126/4 in 14.3 overs, Shivam Dube joined skipper Yadav in the middle, and the duo retained India’s momentum by knitting a 33-run stand, which culminated with the latter’s dismissal in the penultimate over off Usman Tariq.

The Indian captain remained a notable run-getter with a 29-ball 32, laced with three boundaries.

Dube followed suit and perished on the penultimate delivery of the innings after scoring 27 off 17 deliveries, hitting three fours and a six.

Saim Ayub was the standout bowler for Pakistan, taking three wickets for 25 runs in his four overs, while Agha, Shaheen Shah Afridi and Tariq made one scalp apiece.