India captain Suryakumar Yadav urged his teammates to rely on their skills and not their mouths to win the match against Pakistan when the two teams clashed on Sunday, February 15, in the T20 World Cup 2026 match in Colombo’s RPS ground.
Pakistan captain Salman Ali Agha won the toss and chose to bowl first in a surprising move. The move seemingly paid off, as Abhishek Sharma was dismissed for a duck. But Ishan Kishan hammered 10 fours and 3 sixes in his 77-run knock, and thanks to contributions by Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, and Shivam Dube, India posted 175/7 in 20 overs.
Before the Indian team took the field, Suryakumar Yadav addressed his teammates in a huddle and instructed them to focus solely on their skills and not to engage verbally with the Pakistani batters. The captain urged his team to let their bat-and-ball performance speak for itself rather than getting sucked into mental games.
“Keep running between the overs. Don’t say anything to anyone—we have to play good cricket. We will win this game through good skill,” Suryakumar said in the video released by the BCCI.
Pakistan's batting collapsed under the pressure put on by Indian bowlers as they were bowled out for 114, with Usman Khan (44) putting up some resistance. Hardik Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah, Axar Patel, and Varun took two wickets each for India as they won by 61 runs and qualified for the Super Eights.
The win further extended India’s dominance in the rivalry, with the head-to-head record in T20 World Cup history now standing at an emphatic 8–1.
