'You can’t just go and think': Rohit Sharma warns Team India ahead of T20 World Cup clash against Pakistan

NEW DELHI: Former India captain Rohit Sharma has warned Team India not to take their high-profile T20 World Cup 2026 clash against Pakistan lightly, even though they are favourites on paper.

India face Pakistan on February 15 at the R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo, and Rohit believes past records or rankings won’t matter once the match starts.



India have dominated Pakistan in T20 World Cups and recent T20Is, but Rohit stressed that cricket can be unpredictable and every team can win on its day.

Speaking at an event in Dubai, he said, “Firstly I never believed in this word called favourites. It’s such a funny game, and we’ve seen it now there’s so much that has happened in this last 10 years of international cricket. All these teams have so much exposure now playing T20 cricket.

"You can’t just go and think that it’s a two-point victory for us. You just have to play good cricket on that particular day to achieve those points otherwise you might end up going home without anything.”

He added that current form, reputation or history won’t guarantee success.

According to Rohit, the key is performing on the day of the match, because any team can beat another in T20 cricket.

“So it’s not about what you’ve done in the past, what is your team like, players are in form or not form. You just have to play well on that particular day because every team is capable of beating any team on that particular day,” he said.

India have lost only once to Pakistan in World Cups, in the 2021 T20 World Cup, and have beaten them in their last five T20I meetings.


Get the latest ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 updates, including the full schedule, teams, live scores, points table, and key series stats such as top run-scorers and wicket-takers.