Pakistan’s Colombo Advantage? Ryan ten Doeschate Sends Warning

Ryan ten Doeschate said Pakistan’s two-week stay in Colombo could make the February 15 India match more challenging in the T20 World Cup 2026.

India assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate welcomed Pakistan’s decision to play the February 15 Group A match in the T20 World Cup 2026. Pakistan had earlier declined to face India but changed its position after discussions involving the ICC and the BCB. The fixture will now proceed as originally scheduled in the twenty-team tournament.

Ten Doeschate said India never altered its preparation despite the uncertainty. The team expected negotiations to resolve the issue and remained focused on its plans. The former Netherlands all-rounder also stressed that facing Pakistan in the group stage will benefit India.

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“First of all, it’s great that the game’s back on. We kind of never changed our preparation; we knew that the game wasn’t going to happen. We were always under the impression that something would transpire and we would play. So it’s no big change the way we are going about things. And I guess we kind of got confirmation sort of late yesterday and early this morning. It started coming through that the game was going to go ahead, and we are delighted to have another chance to play against the quality side in this first phase of the tournament,” ten Doeschate was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo.

Pakistan Spends 2 Weeks Preparing at Premadasa

Doeschate then acknowledged that Pakistan holds an advantage. The Salman Ali Agha-led side has trained in Colombo for nearly 2 weeks.

“We kind of accepted that as a status quo (to play), and until we got there and they didn’t show up, we were assuming we were going to play. We also, we’re trying to stay clear of all the politics I’ve mentioned before about the sentiments of the country and know the different politics between the two countries, but it’s really important for us just to focus on the cricket side of things. It’s going to be a challenge going to Colombo, where Pakistan has been for the last two weeks, and we are fully focused on just bringing our best game to that fixture next week,” he added.

India will first face Namibia on February 12 at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi.