India and Pakistan are set to clash on February 15 in Colombo in T20 World Cup.
Pakistan opener Sahibzada Farhan, whose 73 propelled his team to a second consecutive T20 World Cup 2026 victory over the United States of America, has stated that the highly anticipated match against India is not a big issue. Farhan expressed confidence that the team would play well against India, citing recent performances by Mohammad Nawaz and Shadab Khan.
The India vs Pakistan group stage, which was previously questionable, will now take place on February 15 as planned. Pakistan enters this game as underdogs, having been humbled by India in ICC competitions, where they have only won one match, the 2021 T20 World Cup. And Farhan stated that the two wins in the first two matches give them confidence.
“See, when you win two matches and are at the top of the table, you feel confident. The upcoming match is not such a big deal; we’re not playing against them for the first time. We’ve played before, and this time we’ll play with a different mindset. You’ve seen us in the shake-up. You must have seen our struggle in the middle. You must have seen that Shadab is making runs, Nawaz is scoring runs. So hopefully you will enjoy our game against them,” Farhan said after their win against the USA on Tuesday in Colombo.
Farhan was also asked about how India defeated Pakistan thrice in the Asia Cup 2025, without much effort. The Pakistani opener still denied that the rivalry has become one-sided.
“No, I think the way we played in the last Asia Cup, we didn’t play one-sided. We played and fought till the end. We didn’t play a one-sided match till the end, and hopefully this time against them, we’ll play a wonderful game,” Farhan said.
Farhan performed well against India in the Asia Cup's second round. Most significantly, Farhan demonstrated his ability to stand up to Bumrah. Farhan believes his recent form will serve him well on Sunday.
“I think when you make runs, you are confident. I am also very confident, and the way the last two innings have gone, I’m very confident. It’s a normal match. We’ll play like a normal match. We won’t put it in our head that this is an India – Pakistan match, it is a normal match, and we will play it like a normal match,” he said.
The IND v PAK game will be played at the SSC Ground in Colombo.
(PTI inputs)