The Men in Green were totally outclassed by India in Colombo.
Pakistan suffered yet another defeat at the hands of India in an ICC events as they were hammered by 61 runs in the Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 Group A clash at R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo on Sunday (February 15).
Ishan Kishan's sensational 77 off 40 balls on a slow Premadasa pitch was worth its weight in gold, propelling India to a highly competitive 175/7 after being asked to bat first.
Chasing the target, Pakistan were bowled out for 114 in 18 overs as India made it 8-1 against the arch-rivals in T20 World Cups.
Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel and Varun Chakaravarthy claimed two scalps each for India. The defending champions used as many as seven bowlers, with skipper Suryakumar Yadav handing the ball to Tilak Varma and Rinku Singh as well. Tilak picked up the wicket of Shadab Khan in his two-over spell.
After the game, former England cricketers Moeen Ali and Ravi Bopara felt giving the ball to part-timers was India’s way of ‘insulting’ Pakistan.
“I think there was a hint of taking the mickey. In a way, you don’t need to bowl Bumrah anymore because he has just come back from a big layoff. You don’t need to bowl your seamers on that wicket and they just bowled straight,” Moeen said while speaking on the podcast show Beard Before Wicket.
Bopara echoed similar sentiments, stating: “Yeah, there would have been because they were so far ahead of the game."
Reflecting on the match, Bopara said: “The gap between the two teams really showed today. That was hard-times for Pakistan."
Moeen had expected Pakistan to put a better show as their squad features some quality spin bowlers for Sri Lankan conditions.
“I agree. I actually thought this game would have been the closest in a long time. I saw Pakistan had good spinners, mystery spinners and [thought] playing in Sri Lanka would suit them a lot more. But like Rav said, India were so far ahead, chalk and cheese, can’t even compare," Moeen remarked.
After the crushing loss to India, Pakistan sit third in Group A table. They will have to win the last group-stage game against Namibia to qualify for the Super 8s.