Former international cricketers, India’s Mohammad Kaif and Pakistan’s Shoaib Akhtar, faced off on a news channel show after India defeated Pakistan on Sunday, February 15, by 61 runs in the T20 World Cup 2026.

Thanks to Ishan Kishan’s 77, India posted 175/7 in 20 overs after they were asked to bat first by Pakistan, who won the toss. In response, Pakistan could only manage 114 runs as four Indian bowlers took two wickets each, and India won by 61 runs and qualified for the Super 8s stage.

This irritated former Indian international Mohammed Kaif, who expressed his displeasure with commentators and experts who only blamed Pakistan for the loss.

Kaif discussed how India was also operating under enormous strain and had its own challenges, but was not given credit for putting on a show in such conditions. Kaif chastised Shoaib Akhtar for focusing the story on Pakistan's problems rather than India's abilities.

“Ever since we started the show, I've not been happy because you have been saying the Pakistan team is anyway weak, is an unenergetic team. If that team had won today, then 100% Shoaib Akhtar would be saying right now that BCCI is prideful, that the players had too much ego.

I want to say that by showing Pakistan as weak, you are taking away India’s excellence. You have just been showing that Pakistan is in trouble, that there’s no system, but what does that matter for India?” Kaif said in a conversation on ABP TV. 

Given the surface, Kaif pointed out how much pressure player Ishan Kishan would have been under to play in such a well-known match and still manage to smash 77(40) in one of the greatest India-Pakistan knocks.

“We are talking about India, the Indian captain, Ishan Kishan, who has played against Pakistan for the first time—how much pressure he must have on him. We aren’t talking about that. Give India’s players the credit because they are playing in a circumstance where, imagine if they lost, then there would have been an outcry,” Kaif pointed out.

Kaif made an important point about how Indian players went into each match against Pakistan knowing that a failure would result in heads on spikes, akin to the 2021 World Cup loss, which had devastating ramifications for certain players.

“You would say Suryakumar Yadav isn’t shaking hands, and now the team has lost; they think they are so brave. Ishan Kishan and Jasprit Bumrah all would have been on trial if they lost this match today,” stated Kaif.

While India has qualified for the Super 8s, Pakistan will need a win or a no result against Namibia in their last Group A match on February 18. India will face the Netherlands on the same date.