Highly-anticipated T20 World Cup fixture
\nHardik Pandya seals victory with Usman Tariq\u2019s wicket
\n Colombo
\nPakistan suffered a 61-run defeat against India in the ICC Men\u2019s T20 World Cup 2026 group-stage clash at R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo, on Sunday.
\nIshan Kishan\u2019s blistering half-century, followed by a collective bowling effort, led India to victory.
\nSet to chase a daunting 176-run target, Pakistan\u2019s batting unit could accumulate 114 before getting bowled out in 18 overs. Pakistan had a disastrous start to the pursuit as India\u2019s pace duo of Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya ran through their top order \u2013 Sahibzada Farhan (zero), Saim Ayub (six) and captain Salman Ali Agha (four) \u2013 inside two overs with just 13 runs on the board.
\nFollowing the early debacle, wicketkeeper batter Usman Khan walked out to bat at No.5 and soon took the reins of Pakistan\u2019s pursuit.
\nUsman 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.
\nThe 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.
\nUsman remained the top-scorer with a valiant 44 off 34 deliveries, featuring six fours and a six.
\nHis 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.
\nFor India, Bumrah, Patel, Pandya and Chakravarthy led the way with two wickets each, while Kuldeep Yadav and Tilak Varma. Pakistan captain Salman Ali Agha\u2019s decision to field first did not prove beneficial for the Green Shirts as the Men in Blue accumulated 175\/7 in their 20 overs.
\nIndia got off to a dismal start to their innings as Pakistan captain Salman Ali Agha\u2019s 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\u2019s 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.
\nKishan\u2019s 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.
\nVarma made a cautious 25 off 24 deliveries with the help of two fours and a six.
\nWith the scoreboard reading 126\/4 in 14.3 overs, Shivam Dube joined skipper Yadav in the middle, and the duo retained India\u2019s momentum by knitting a 33-run stand, which culminated with the latter\u2019s dismissal in the penultimate over off Usman Tariq.
\nThe Indian captain remained a notable run-getter with a 29-ball 32, laced with three boundaries.
\nDube followed suit and perished on the penultimate delivery of the innings after scoring 27 off 17 deliveries, hitting three fours and a six.
\nSaim 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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Highly-anticipated T20 World Cup fixture Hardik Pandya seals victory with Usman Tariq\u2019s wicket Colombo Pakistan suffered a 61-run defeat against India in the ICC Men\u2019s T20 World Cup 2026 group-stage clash at R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo, on Sunday. Ishan Kishan\u2019s blistering half-century, followed by a collective bowling effort, led India to victory. Set to chase […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":531541,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-531505","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-top-news"},"yoast_head":"\n