- By Namrata Vijay
- Sun, 15 Feb 2026 06:58 PM (IST)
- Source:JND
IND vs PAK T20 World Cup 2026: Pakistan have won the toss and chose to bowl first. They have fielded the same playing XI. At the same time, India has made two changes in their playing XI as Abhishek Sharma and Kuldeep Yadav have replaced Sanju Samson and Arshdeep Singh.
Abhishek Sharma is back in India’s playing XI. The world’s No. 1 T20I batter will open the innings for India with Ishan Kishan in their high-voltage Group A match of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 against Pakistan. For the match scheduled to take place at the R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo, Abhishek, who missed the India-Namibia fixture in Delhi on Thursday (February 12) due to a stomach bug, has replaced Sanju Samson in India’s playing XI.
Kuldeep warmed the bench in the first two matches against the USA and Namibia but has replaced Arshdeep Singh for the India-Pakistan match.
Kuldeep, who has 94 wickets to his name in 53 T20I matches played so far, has picked up 8 wickets in three T20I matches against the Pakistani team.
He registered his best bowling figures of 4/30 against Pakistan in the final of the Asia Cup 2025, which was played at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on September 28.
Suryakumar Yadav | India captain: (Do you mind batting first?) Not at all. We were looking to bat first. We've seen the results here, and we've batted in the last two games and won both games defending, so we don't want to change anything. (On the big occasion) I think it's easy to say that it's just another game, but it is an occasion. These games are always very high stakes, but at the same time, you've got to know what you want to do. That's more important. Stay in the present, back your skills, put your A game forward, and be yourself. (Does form count?) This sport teaches you a lot of things. On a given day, if you're going well, then anyone can have a good day. Two changes. Abhishek Sharma comes in, and Kuldeep Yadav comes in for Arshdeep Singh.
Salman Agha | Pakistan captain: We want to bowl first. It looks a bit tacky, so we feel it will assist the bowlers for the first few overs, so we want to use that. It's a big game. We all know that. But in our group, we are all very, very relaxed now. And we're just focusing on the game, and we're very excited for this challenge. Bigger ground than SSC, and the pitch is slower than SSC. But we have been playing on these kinds of pitches for the last six months. So we have an idea how to play on these pitches as well. Same team for us.
Teams:
India (Playing XI): Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan(w), Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav(c), Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Rinku Singh, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakaravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah
Pakistan (Playing XI): Saim Ayub, Sahibzada Farhan, Salman Agha(c), Babar Azam, Mohammad Nawaz, Usman Khan(w), Shadab Khan, Faheem Ashraf, Shaheen Afridi, Abrar Ahmed, Usman Tariq