Before Sunday’s highly anticipated 2026 T20 World Cup match against Pakistan in Colombo, former India captain Rohit Sharma was spotted welcoming and embracing the Indian players. In the 2026 T20 World Cup, India and Pakistan are currently facing off in their third group stage encounter.
Rohit Sharma is participating in the 2026 T20 World Cup as an ICC Ambassador. Upon his appointment in November 2025, he became the first active Indian cricket player to hold the position.
The Mumbai cricketer is still playing for India in ODIs despite having retired from T20Is and Test matches. India defeated South Africa in the Barbados final to win the 2024 T20 World Cup under Rohit Sharma’s leadership.
Shortly after the final, Rohit, Virat Kohli, and Ravindra Jadeja declared their retirements from T20I cricket.
Returning to the game on Sunday, Pakistan chose to field first after winning the toss. Tilak Varma joined Ishan Kishan in the middle after India lost the returning Abhishek Sharma for a duck. As of this report’s writing, the Men in Blue were 52/1 after six overs. Tilak Varma was not out at 10 while Ishan Kishan was batting at 42.
Sanju Samson replaced Abhishek Sharma, who was unwell and missed the match against Namibia. Now, Abhishek has once again taken Samson’s place in the starting lineup.
India and Pakistan are both riding high after victories in their previous two games going into this one. India crushed Namibia by 93 runs after defeating the United States of America by 29 runs to start the campaign. In contrast, Pakistan defeated the United States by 32 runs after defeating the Netherlands by a tense three wickets in their opening encounter.
