T20 World Cup 2026: 'India had enough runs to enforce follow-on vs Pakistan' - Legendary cricketer takes a jibe at Men in Green

Pakistan were outplayed once again by India in the T20 World Cup, this time at the R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo on Sunday, February 15. This was their eighth defeat against the Men in Blue in the marquee event.

The arch-rivals locked horns in a Group A fixture, and India emerged victorious by 61 runs. Ishan Kishan slammed a remarkable half-century after Salman Ali Agha won the toss and opted to field first. Suryakumar Yadav and Shivam Dube also chipped in with crucial contributions as India finished on 175/7 in 20 overs.

Former India off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin joked that India could have enforced the follow-on with the amount of runs they had posted on a challenging surface in Colombo. He felt that the Pakistani batters were not equipped with the expertise needed to chase down the 176-run target.

"174 runs on this pitch — they would have followed-on Pakistan. No, really. If we had scored 20 more runs, we could have followed them on here," Ashwin said on his YouTube channel while chatting with journalist Vimal Kumar.

Pakistan lost three wickets in the first two overs and never really recovered from the initial setbacks. Their top four batters couldn't get to double figures. Wicketkeeper-batter Usman Khan played his shots and gave Pakistan hopes of a miraculous win. However, the hill was too steep for him to climb by himself.

Shaheen Afridi played his shots towards the end, but his unbeaten knock of 23 off 19 balls only reduced the margin of defeat. Pakistan were bowled out for 114 in 18 overs. Hardik Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah, Axar Patel, and Varun Chakaravarthy bagged two wickets each for India. Kuldeep Yadav and Tilak Varma also chipped in with a wicket apiece.

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On the back of this win, India punched their ticket to the Super-Eight stage of the 20-team tournament. On the other hand, Pakistan will have to win their last game against Namibia to progress beyond the group stage.