Is the excitement surrounding India vs. Pakistan truly justified? After Suryakumar Yadav and company defeated Pakistan by 61 runs in a T20 World Cup 2026 match on Sunday—their largest victory over their bitter rivals in the format—that is the crucial question. To put it mildly, it was a timid capitulation in a match that began with India's adversaries threatening to boycott. Mohsin Naqvi, the head of the Pakistan Cricket Board, was at the center of the boycott drama as he attended the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo on Sunday while India was thrashing Pakistan. An unidentified source was quoted by news agency PTI as saying that "Naqvi conveyed his displeasure over the team's performance — the 61-run loss India suffered — to team manager Naved Akram Cheema."

"The Chairman left the match early at the Premadasa Stadium as it became obvious Pakistan were going to face another defeat to India," the source said.
According to him, Naqvi further informed the management that such performances in the relevant matches were neither acceptable or understandable through a senior PCB official.
According to the source, head coach Mike Hesson also reminded the players in the locker room that they hadn't performed to their full capacity.The management think tank concluded late at night that Babar and Shaheen should be benched and Salman Mirza/Naseem Shah and Fakhar Zaman should start against Namibia on Wednesday," he said.

If Pakistan hopes to advance to the tournament's Super Eight stage, they cannot afford to make any mistakes against Namibia. Before suffering a crushing setback to India, the team defeated the Netherlands and the lower-ranked USA.