Colombo: Ishan Kishan’s superb half-century, combined with bowling, helped India beat arch-rivals Pakistan by 61 runs to win the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 at the R Premadasa Stadium on Sunday.
Chasing a target of 176 runs, Pakistan scored 114 runs in 18 overs.
Pakistan got off to a disastrous start as India’s pace duo Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya ran through their top order – Sahibzada Farhan (nil), Saim Ayub (six) and skipper Salman Ali Agha (four) – for just 13 runs in two overs.
Following the initial defeat, wicketkeeper batsman Usman Khan walked out to bat at number 5 and soon took control of Pakistan’s chase.
Usman shared a one-sided 21-run partnership for the fourth wicket with Babar Azam (five) who was cleaned out by Axar Patel in the fifth over.
The 30-year-old put on a cautious 39-run partnership for the fifth wicket with all-rounder Shadab Khan as Axer struck again.
Usman top scored with 44 off 34 balls with 6 fours and a six.
His dismissal was followed by two more setbacks as Pakistan lost Mohammad Nawaz (four) and set-batter Shadab (14) in subsequent overs to be reduced to 78/7 in 12.1 overs.
All-rounder Faheem Ashraf (10) and lower-order batsman Shaheen Shah Afridi put on 19 for the eighth wicket before falling prey to Varun Chakraborty, who sent Abrar Ahmed back with a golden duck in the 16th over to reduce the total to 97/9.
Pandya dealt a decisive blow to Pakistan by cleaning up No. 11 Usman Tariq.
For India, Bumrah, Patel, Pandya and Chakraborty took 2 wickets each and Kuldeep Yadav and Tilak Verma took one wicket each.
Pakistan captain Salman Ali Agha’s decision to field first did not benefit the green shirts as the Men in Blue amassed 175/7 in their 20 overs.
India got off to a poor start to their innings as Pakistan captain Salman Ali Agha’s decision to open the attack gave them a major breakthrough in the form of top-ranked T20I batsman Abhishek Sharma, who fell for a four-ball duck.
Following the opener, opener Kishan Tilak combined with Verma for the second wicket to force a stunning comeback.
The partnership frustrated Pakistan’s bowling and scored 87 runs off 45 balls. Before that Saim Ayub gave the green shirts a much-needed breakthrough as he top-scored with 77 off 40 balls with 10 fours and 3 sixes.
Kishan’s dismissal forced freshman pair Verma and Suryakumar Yadav to rework the innings as they batted carefully to add 38 runs for the third wicket, before Saim dismissed the left-arm batsman and Hardik Pandya (zero) in subsequent deliveries.
Verma scored 25 runs off 24 balls with the help of 2 fours and a six.
With the scoreboard at 126/4 in 14.3 overs, Shivam Dubey joined skipper Yadav in the middle and the duo put on 33 runs to keep India’s momentum going, which saw Usman Tariq dismissed in the last over.
The Indian captain was a remarkable run scorer with 32 runs off 29 balls with 3 fours.
Dube followed suit and was dismissed on the final delivery of the innings after scoring 27 off 17 balls with 3 fours and a six.
Saim Ayub bowled well for Pakistan with 3 wickets for 25 runs in four overs while Agha, Shaheen Shah Afridi and Tariq took one wicket each.