Colombo, February 15 – Former India captain Rohit Sharma, who is serving as the ICC ambassador for the 2026 Men's T20 World Cup, was seen interacting with ICC Chairman Jay Shah during the high-stakes Group A match against Pakistan at the R Premadasa Stadium on Sunday.
Under his leadership, India won the 2024 T20 World Cup. Ahead of the match, Rohit interacted with members of the Indian men's cricket team and the support staff.
Pakistan captain Salman Ali Agha won the toss and chose to bowl first, and immediately made an impact, dismissing star opener Abhishek Sharma in the first over. A reminder of some tensions between Agha and India captain Suryakumar Yadav came when there was no handshake before the game, which had been confirmed just six days prior to today's game after the Pakistan government changed its mind on threatening to boycott the match.
Pakistan played the same team as their last match, while India (the defending champions) made two major changes to their lineup by bringing back Abhishek Sharma and Kuldeep Yadav (replacing Sanju Samson and Arshdeep Singh) for the big game today.
India has had a dominant run against Pakistan in the Men's T20 World Cup, having won 7 out of the 8 matches played between the two sides. Pakistan's only win against India came in 2021 (Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan were the pioneers) with a commanding 10-wicket victory in Dubai.
Interestingly, at the R Premadasa Stadium, all three previous World Cup matches have been won by the team batting first – a statistic that could play a decisive role in shaping yet another chapter of this iconic rivalry.
