‘Put In Easy Group To Qualify’: Gavaskar’s Blunt Take On IND-PAK Match In T20 World Cup 2026:

Indian batting legend Sunil Gavaskar has slammed the team groupings for the T20 World Cup 2026. India and Pakistan are placed in Group A, alongside Namibia, the USA and the Netherlands. While India enter

the tournaments as favourites, the second-best team appears to be Pakistan. Gavaskar believes the group has been kept relatively easy to ensure both teams make it to the next stage of the tournament.

In his latest column for Sportstar, Gavaskar suggested that India and Pakistan have once again been placed together primarily to guarantee a high-profile clash between the two rivals.

“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,” Gavaskar wrote in his column for Sportstar.

Reflecting on the previous T20 World Cup in 2024, where India ended an 11-year ICC title drought, Gavaskar pointed out that Pakistan failed to reach the semi-finals after losses to India and the USA in the group stage. He believes the USA could pose an even bigger challenge this time around.

“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,” wrote Gavaskar.

“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,” he added.