India vs Pakistan T20 World Cup: Sahibzada Farhan fires warning before ‘normal’ clash against Men in Blue
Farhan was speaking after Pakistan continued their winning momentum in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 by beating USA by 32 runs at the Sinhalese Sports Club in Colombo on Tuesday. His attacking strike sealed the victory and kept Pakistan top of the group.
The focus now shifts to February 15, when Pakistan will face India in a high-voltage group stage match. Farhan made it clear that his team was ready for this situation.
“When you win two matches and are at the top of the table, you are confident. The upcoming match is not that important; it is not the first time we are playing against them. We have played before and this time we will play with a different mentality,” he said in the post-match press conference, according to ICC.
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Farhan hit 73 off 41 balls, including six fours and five sixes, as Pakistan posted 190/9. Shadab Khan’s all-round performance sealed a comfortable win against the USA.
Talking about the total, Farhan said, “The field was magnificent, but it was also important to make 190 on such a field. As you can see in the last 5-6 months, we have been making 190-200 runs comfortably. We have worked hard for this.”
He also conveyed his speech in the middle as follows: “After the first half, I told Saim that you should use the circle like me. So 190 was definitely very good for this field.”
Pakistan is leading Group A with four points, with two wins from two matches. They will now face India on Sunday in what is seen as the biggest clash of the first phase.
When asked if the India-Pakistan match could be one-sided, Farhan said, “We haven’t played a one-sided match till the end, hopefully we will play a great game again this time.”
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On his form ahead of the match, he said, “I think when you make runs you become confident. I am very confident too and I am very confident in the way the last two innings went. This is a normal match. We will play like a normal match. We will not get it into our heads that this is an India-Pakistan match; this is a normal match and we will play like a normal match.”
Earlier, after Pakistan confirmed they would play the fixture, Farhan said: “The match is starting and we are confident.”
Looking back at last year’s T20 Asia Cup, where India defeated Pakistan thrice en route to lifting the trophy in Dubai, Farhan said, “This time it will be different and we will put in a strong performance.
“We lost all three matches in the Asia Cup, including the final against India, but they were not one-sided.”
On the Indian side, assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate said on Tuesday that it would be a “challenge” to face a “quality” Pakistan team in Colombo after Islamabad changed their earlier decision and agreed to play the match on February 15.
The Pakistani government late Monday withdrew its order for the team to boycott the game, ending a week-long standoff.
“It’s great that the game has restarted, we haven’t changed the preparations at all,” Ten Doeschate said.
India will play their second Group A match against Namibia in New Delhi on Thursday before flying to Sri Lanka and a quick turnaround ahead of Sunday’s clash.
“It will be challenging to get to Colombo, where Pakistan has been for the last two weeks,” Ten Doeschate said.
“We are happy to have the chance to play against a quality team in the first stage of the tournament.
“We are completely focused on bringing our best game to this fixture.”
Pakistan’s decision to go ahead with the match was welcomed on Tuesday as a burst of “common sense” and described as “good for cricket”.
In a busy weekend of talks, the presidents of the International Cricket Council and the Bangladesh Cricket Board traveled to Lahore on Sunday to meet the Pakistan Cricket Board. The governments of Bangladesh and Sri Lanka wrote a letter to Islamabad on Monday, urging the match to be allowed to go ahead.
For Indian fans, Sunday promises a new chapter in a rivalry that rarely follows a script.
