T20 WC: Indian team reaches Colombo for high-octane clash against Pakistan

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New Delhi: The Indian cricket team led by Suryakumar Yadav reached Colombo on Friday evening for the high-stakes T20 World Cup clash against Pakistan on Sunday. The traditional rivals, after weeks of uncertainty, will face-off in the World Cup Group A clash on February 15 in Sri Lanka’s capital city amid a huge roar.

After beating Namibia convincingly on Thursday evening, the Indian cricket team, which has won two out of two matches in the marquee event, was seen deboarding their bus and entering the New Delhi airport amid a lot of security and media personnel earlier in the day. In evening, pictures surfaced on social media were the Indian team was seen on the Colombo airport after covering the 3-hours flight.

Earlier in a video posted on social media site X, India skipper Suryakumar, flamboyant batters Abhishek Sharma and Ishan Kishan along with Arshdeep Singh, Varun Chakarvarthy were all seen entering the Delhi airport terminal. Abhishek’s participation in the high-octane clash is under a bit of doubt after he missed the last match in Delhi.

Sanju Samson, who showcased a bit of fire in the game against Namibia but failed to capitalise in absence of Abhishek, was also seen entering the airport.

Watch the video

Rain threat looming

Meanwhile, there is a bit of concern in the game between the arch-rivals that rain threat is looming large over the city on Sunday with at least 4 hours of showers likely. But the prediction for rain is before the match and hopefully, it won’t disturb the proceedings during the game.

If at all match is washed out, then both the teams get a point each and India will qualify for the Super 8. Pakistan will still have to secure another win in order to seal the berth.

Squads

Pakistan: Salman Agha (c), Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Faheem Ashraf, Fakhar Zaman, Khawaja Mohammad Nafay (wk), Mohammad Nawaz, Salman Mirza, Naseem Shah, Sahibzada Farhan (wk), Saim Ayub, Shaheen Afridi, Shadab Khan, Usman Khan, Usman Tariq.

India: Suryakumar Yadav (c), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Sanju Samson, Shivam Dube, Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakaravarthy, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Rinku Singh