Former Indian batter Subramaniam Badrinath has urged fans and media to not hype up India-Pakistan matches amid the ongoing T20 World Cup 2026. There is always a lot of hype before the India-Pakistan match but it was once again a one-sided contest.
India clinched a comprehensive 61-run win against Pakistan at the R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo on Sunday to qualify for the Super 8 of the tournament. Ishan Kishan scored a blistering knock of 77 runs off just 40 balls to help India post an above-par score of 175. Pakistan, in reply, were bowled out for 114 to suffer an ignominious loss.
With this win, India extended their win-loss record against Pakistan to 8-1 in the T20 World Cup.
Badrinath said on his YouTube Channel, “This is no longer a rivalry. Please don’t hype up India-Pakistan. Pakistan are getting clobbered badly. Pakistan are not what they were before, and India are playing at a different level. The excitement is generated only because of other reasons. But when it comes to cricket, please don’t call this a rivalry. A rivalry is when two evenly matched teams play, which this is not.”
“I thought there would at least be a fight from Pakistan. But I can see why they kept saying they won’t play the game. They knew if they played, India would hammer them. The match was over after the first 10 overs of India’s batting innings.”
On the other hand, Pakistan’s talisman batter Babar Azam was dismissed while attempting to play a slog sweep against Axar Patel after managing only five runs off seven balls. Badrinath said he is not sure where Azam’s career is going in T20Is.
“When it comes to T20, he was literally humiliated in the recent Big Bash. Steve Smith even denied him the strike. I don’t know where his T20 cricket is going. Is it over for Babar Azam and will he play after this? Because there are massive complaints over his strike rate. He doesn’t score at all, and once again, it’s failure over failure. His strike rate is constantly dipping, and it is costing the team,” said Badrinath (via the aforementioned source).
India will next take on the Netherlands at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad, on Wednesday.
