Colombo, 14 February. Indian cricket team captain Suryakumar Yadav, while giving an update on the fitness of opener Abhishek Sharma on the eve of the big match to be played here on Sunday in the ICC T20 World Cup, said that he is now completely fit and will play against Pakistan.
Due to stomach infection, Abhishek had to be admitted to a hospital in Delhi recently and he could not play in the match against Namibia. On the question asked about Abhishek, Suryakumar gave a clear answer. In fact, before India, Pakistan captain Salman Aga had said that he wants Abhishek to play in this match.
‘We will decide before the match whether to shake hands with Pakistani players or not’
Addressing the media regarding the proposed match at R Premadasa Stadium from 7 pm, Suryakumar also clarified the situation regarding shaking hands with Pakistani players in the match and said, ‘We will decide before the match what to do in this regard.’
When Surya Kumar was asked whether the Indian team will join hands with Pakistani players in tomorrow’s match, Indian cricket team’s T20 captain Surya Kumar Yadav said, ‘Wait for 24 hours. We have come here to play cricket. We will play good cricket. Will eat good food and sleep. We will decide on this tomorrow. Before this, Pakistani captain Salman Ali Aga while talking to the media said that the Indian team has to take a decision in this regard.
Indian cricketers had avoided shaking hands in all three matches of Asia Cup.
Remember that during the Asia Cup in UAE last year, the teams of India and Pakistan faced each other thrice including the final. But in the context of the Pulwama attack, the Indian players did not shake hands with the opposition players in all three matches and after the title victory, the Indian team refused to accept the medal from Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman and Asian Cricket Council (ACC) Chairman Mohsin Naqvi.
Suryakumar gave his answers regarding many aspects including Kuldeep Yadav’s play and Usman Tariq. He said, ‘We were always mentally prepared to play this match. And amidst the happenings, our entire attention was focused on our preparations.
‘We have no control over the weather’
Regarding the weather in Colombo, the Indian captain said, ‘This is an aspect over which we have no control. We can control only by playing good cricket. We have played a lot of cricket on this ground and this experience will help us. It is known that the Meteorological Department has predicted bad weather in Colombo on Sunday evening. There is a possibility of it causing disruption in the match.
Gave this answer on strategy against Pakistani bowler Usman Tariq
On the strategy against Pakistani bowler Usman Tariq, Surya said, ‘Sometimes an out-of-syllabus question comes in the exam, so we cannot ignore it. To deal with this, you have to try something. You have to have your own approach and that’s what we try to do. He is a different character in terms of bowling, but at the same time, we cannot surrender. So, we practice with the same bowlers and the same action, and we will obviously just try to do the same.
‘We had a bad start in batting during the first two matches’
India’s batting has been weak so far in the T20 World Cup 2026. Despite two wins, India’s middle order has been in trouble in the matches against America and Namibia. Suryakumar said, ‘Our start was a bit bad, we cannot turn away from this truth. No excuse will suffice. All the batsmen have played a lot of cricket, batsmen should make their strategy on difficult wickets. We started well but faltered a bit, but then we handled it well. This is the beauty of T20 cricket.
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