New Delhi: India defeated Pakistan by 61 runs in the Group A clash of the T20 World Cup 2026 at the R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo on Sunday, February 15. With this win, the Men in Blue have also extended their dominance over arch-rivals in the T20 World Cup, improving their head-to-head record to 8-1.
Pakistan’s only victory against India came during the 2021 T20 World Cup in Dubai. This is also India’s biggest win against Pakistan in T20Is. This is Pakistan’s second-biggest defeat in T20 World Cup history after an 84-run loss against the West Indies in Mirpur in 2014.
Overall, this is India’s 16th victory in 17 matches against Pakistan in the ODI and T20 World Cups. The Men in Blue have also won their 11th consecutive match in the T20 World Cup. The unbeaten streak began in the 2024 T20 World Cup, where India won all eight matches, including the final against South Africa. They also won their three group matches in the ongoing edition.
India outclass Pakistan to qualify for Super Eights
With the 61-run win against Pakistan, the Men in Blue have also qualified for the Super 8 stage of the T20 World Cup 2026. Ishan Kishan’s knock proved to be a big difference in the highly competitive match in Colombo.
Pakistan used a record six spinners on a surface that helped spin bowling throughout the evening, but Kishan scored 77 runs off 40 balls with the help of 10 boundaries and three maximums to power India to 175/7.
After his dismissal in the 9th over, Pakistan’s spinner stopped the boundary scoring as India made only 38 runs in the next six overs. Ayub extracted a lot of turn from the pitch, took two wickets off two balls, but Shivam Dube and Rinku Singh scored timely boundaries to help India go past the 170-run mark.
Defending the target, Hardik Pandya removed Sahibzada Farhan for a first-ball duck. Bumrah also took two wickets in the next over, leaving Pakistan at 13/3. Suryakumar the unleased his spinners, and Axar made an immediate impact, removing Babar Azam. The Men in Blue continued to attack Pakistan as Chakaravarthy, Kuldeep Yadav and Axar kept things tight in the middle.
Axar and Kuldeep removed Usman and Nawaz, respectively, while Tilak also dismissed Shadab. Chakaravarthy returned to the attack and picked up two wickets off successive deliveries. He missed his hat-trick, but Hardik picked the final wicket in the 18th over. With this defeat, Pakistan will have to win their final group match against Namibia to qualify for the Super 8 stage.