Sports News | Spin, Abhishek, Rain, Handshakes: How IND-PAK T20 WC Clash Looks the Most Intriguing One in Years

Colombo [Sri Lanka], February 14 (ANI): An unstoppable, fiery Team India, featuring excellence all over their squad, will take on a solid Pakistan in their ICC T20 World Cup group stage clash at Colombo on Sunday, with focus set to be on spin, Abhishek Sharma, the possibilities of handshakes and rainfall.

After the boycott call by the Pakistan government ended and courtesy talks led by the International Cricket Council (ICC), fans are finally set for a Super Sunday. On one side will be a dominant Team India, led by Suryakumar Yadav, who has barely kept a foot wrong since the Men in Blue ended their trophy drought by lifting the T20 WC 2024 under Rohit Sharma.

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On the other side will be Pakistan, who have been unbeaten in the tournament so far and look in really good shape courtesy of the solid form of their openers Saim Ayub and Sahibzada Farhan, and spinners Abrar Ahmed, Mohammed Nawaz and Usman Tariq, with the latter's action attracting a lot of scrutiny so far from fans and experts alike. With Saim and skipper Salman being all-rounders, Pakistan has a fine five-pronged spin attack.

As per CricViz data, despite having not played in Colombo so far in the tournament as compared to Pakistan who are already playing there, the Men in Blue still hold an edge over Pakistan at the R Premadasa Stadium with 11 T20I wins in 15 games, the most by any team, including hosts Sri Lanka (73.3 per cent win rate, minimum of 5 games).

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-Spin factor, with Usman as the biggest mystery:

According to CricViz, Pakistan leads the T20 World Cup in spin, with 13 wickets at an average of 15.76, while India does a brilliant job with their economy rate, having the best economy rate of 5.76 and 47.4 per cent dot balls. Keeping the conditions at Colombo in mind, spinners are at the forefront, and pacers are taking a backseat this time.

Both sides seem to have their preferred modes of dismissal, with Indian spinners excelling at clean bowling their opponents; Varun Chakravarthy's 39.6 per cent bowled rate and Axar Patel's 27.7 per cent bowled rate are exceptional. But on the other hand, Pakistan spinners, particularly skipper Salman Ali Agha (20 per cent and Abrar Ahmed 16.3 per cent), are better at leg before wicket. Only Kuldeep Yadav (14.1 per cent) is the sole Indian breaking into the top five bowlers with the most LBW wickets.

Also, Usman Tariq's mysterious sidearm action, which pauses as well, will be something cricketers, fans, and experts will have their eyes on. The nature of Usman's action, particularly its sidearm delivery combined with a brief pause, has led fans and experts to speculate whether he is chucking or throwing the ball. Usman, 28, has taken 11 wickets in four T20Is at an average of 7.90 with a four-fer to his name. In the T20 WC 2026, Usman Tariq featured in the match against the USA, where he claimed 3/27 in 4 overs.

Ahead of the clash, Tariq's captain termed him as his side's "trump card" and tried to shift the scrutiny away from the spinner.

"You all have made Usman Tariq a big name. For us, all 15 players are important. He has been bowling well. You can definitely say that he is a trump card for us. He has been cleared by the ICC, so I do not understand why everyone is discussing him. Usman doesn't get affected by these things. He is fine. He doesn't care about these things," Agha said.

On the other hand, the Indian skipper Suryakumar Yadav acknowledged that Usman could be an "out of syllabus bowler" but the Men in Blue "would not surrender".

"See, sometimes there is a question in the exam as well, which is out of the syllabus. So, we cannot leave that question. To tackle that, you have to try something. You have to adopt your own way. And we try the same way," he said.

"Yes, he (Usman Tariq) is a different character when he comes to bowl. But at the same time, we cannot just surrender. We practice with a similar type of bowlers and with similar actions. And we will try to execute what we are practising in the net sessions during the match," he added.

However, with Pakistan featuring a spin attack consisting of Abrar, Usman, Salman, Nawaz and Saim, India will have a tough examination to face, given they have not had the bestest record against spin this tournament so far, with figures of three wickets lost and 42 runs made against USA in eight overs against spin bowling and 61 runs made in eight overs against Namibia, but having lost five wickets to tweakers in these overs.

-Abhishek's fitness:

Abhishek, who fell to a golden duck against the USA, missed the next clash against Namibia due to a stomach infection. Following the toss against Namibia, Surya had said Abhishek "is still not fine" and "will miss a game or two." However, with videos emerging of Abhishek eating 'daal-rice' and telling fans that "he is good", and him practising in nets at Colombo is a huge plus for Team India and for cricket in general, given how much of a blockbuster act he has been with his batting so far.

Abhishek, who made his T20 debut after India's 2024 World Cup title, has scored 1,297 runs in 38 matches and 37 innings at an average of 37.05 and a strike rate of 194.74, with two centuries and eight fifties and a best score of 135. He entered this year's T20 WC as the world's top-ranked T20I batter.

Ahead of the clash, Pakistan skipper Salman Ali Agha wished Abhishek a speedy recovery and expressed his team's desire to play against India's very best players.

"I really hope - we all know he is a good player, and I really hope he plays tomorrow because we want to play against the best team they have, and I really hope he is recovering well and can play tomorrow," said Agha during the pre-match presser.

Responding humorously to Agha's comments, Suryakumar Yadav said during the pre-match presser, "Chalo theek hai, if he wants him to play then we will play him tomorrow (Okay, if the Pakistan skipper wants him to play, we will play him tomorrow)."

Fans would be reflecting that Agha's wishes for Abhishek and Surya's playful banter are a sign of positive things to come, and Abhishek indeed takes the field.

-Handshake or not?

Following the attack in Pahalgam in April last year and rising tensions between the two nations, the senior Indian men's cricket team had refrained from shaking hands with Pakistan players before or after matches throughout the Asia Cup 2025 trilogy. This 'no handshake' trend continued in subsequent encounters between India and Pakistan in various ICC and Asian Cricket Council (ACC) tournaments, including the Asia Cup Rising Stars and the Under-19 Cricket World Cup matches.

However, ahead of the clash, Agha expressed hope that things would return to normal and hands would be shaken for the sake of "spirit of cricket".

During the pre-match presser, Agha said, "The game should be played in the same spirit. And what I expect, obviously, does not matter. But I feel that the game should be played the same way as it has been since the beginning of cricket. And the rest is up to them and whatever they want to do."

However, Surya, at his most witty self throughout the presser, chose to maintain the suspense, saying, "24 ghanta ruk jaao na uske liye? Why put so much stress on that? We have come to play cricket. We will play good cricket. We will take all those calls later tomorrow. Wait for it. Eat well and go to sleep. Kal kar deta hu na break suspense. Abhi important kya hai abhi? Game na, ruk jaao 24 ghanta (Wait 24 hours for that? Why put so much stress on that? We have come to play cricket. We will play good cricket. We will take all those calls later tomorrow. Wait for it. Eat well and go to sleep. I will break the suspense tomorrow. What is important now is the game; wait for 24 hours."

-Will rain play the spoilsport?

According to AccuWeather, Colombo will experience 100 per cent cloud cover on Sunday, with a roughly 13 per cent chance of rain in the evening. The India vs Pakistan T20 World Cup match is set to start at 7:00 PM local time, with the toss scheduled at 6:30 PM. Notably, at 6:00 PM, an hour before the match, Colombo faces a 49 per cent chance of rain.

At 7 PM, AccuWeather forecasts there to be a 9 per cent probability of precipitation and a 100 per cent cloud cover in Colombo. The conditions are expected to be the same till 11:00 PM local time. If the game is washed out, both teams will be awarded one point each as the India vs Pakistan group-stage match does not have a reserve day.

Squads: India Squad: Ishan Kishan(w), Sanju Samson, Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav(c), Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Rinku Singh, Axar Patel, Varun Chakaravarthy, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Abhishek Sharma, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Washington Sundar Pakistan Squad: Saim Ayub, Sahibzada Farhan, Salman Agha(c), Babar Azam, Mohammad Nawaz, Shadab Khan, Faheem Ashraf, Usman Khan(w), Shaheen Afridi, Abrar Ahmed, Usman Tariq, Fakhar Zaman, Naseem Shah, Salman Mirza, Khawaja Nafay. (ANI)

(The above story is verified and authored by ANI staff, ANI is South Asia's leading multimedia news agency with over 100 bureaus in India, South Asia and across the globe. ANI brings the latest news on Politics and Current Affairs in India & around the World, Sports, Health, Fitness, Entertainment, & News. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)