Sunil Gavaskar offered a blunt assessment of the T20 World Cup 2026 groups, suggesting India and Pakistan were given an easy group alongside Namibia, USA and Netherlands.
Indian cricket legend Sunil Gavaskar offered his take on the group structure for the T20 World Cup 2026. India and Pakistan feature in Group A with Namibia, the USA and the Netherlands. Gavaskar felt the combination offered an easy passage to the next round.
India enters the tournament as the favourites. Pakistan appears to be the strongest challenger within the group.
Writing in a recent column for Sportstar, Gavaskar highlighted a familiar pattern from past World Cups. He pointed to repeated India-Pakistan placements in the same group. The move, he felt, ensured a marquee clash early in the event. Gavaskar added that the real competition would likely begin after the group stage ended.
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“As always in recent World Cups, India and Pakistan are not only placed in the same group to ensure at least one clash between the traditional rivals, but are also invariably put in a fairly easy group to qualify for the next round. So the real battle could well start from the following stage of the tournament,” he wrote.
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Gavaskar also feels the USA could present a stronger challenge in 2026. He noted the team’s steady improvement since the last World Cup.
“We saw the USA beat Pakistan in the last edition of the ICC T20 World Cup when they were co-hosts with the West Indies. They have since improved with experience and by rubbing shoulders with some of the best players in the world in Major League Cricket,” he wrote.
“The best part of these leagues is that they help to get rid of the awe factor that players from emerging countries often feel towards some of the big names in the game. Sharing dressing rooms with them, seeing how they prepare, and how they deal with failure are things that cannot be taught in any university. That first-hand experience is what helps to drive their individual games forward,” Gavaskar concluded.
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