India’s assistant coach Ten Doeschate acknowledges challenge against Pakistan

DELHI: India’s assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate has described facing Pakistan in Colombo as a “challenge” during the 2026 T20 World Cup, noting that the Pakistan team has already been based in the Sri Lankan capital for two weeks.

Speaking in Delhi on Tuesday, a day after the Pakistan government ended its boycott of the February 15 group fixture against India, Ten Doeschate said India’s preparations had remained largely unaffected despite the uncertainty over the past ten days.

"First of all, it's great that the game's back on," ten Doeschate said. 

The former Netherlands player reflected on the team’s mindset and preparation ahead of their upcoming match against Pakistan, emphasising their commitment to focusing on cricket despite the uncertainty surrounding the fixture.

"We kind of never changed our preparation 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 (Pakistan) in this first phase of the tournament."

He added that the team had chosen to stay clear of off-field distractions and maintain their focus on performance.

“We accepted the situation as a status quo — until they didn’t show up, we assumed we would play. We’ve tried to stay clear of the politics surrounding the match and focus solely on cricket. It will be a challenge playing in Colombo where Pakistan have already been based for two weeks, and our focus is simply on bringing our best game to that fixture next week.”

Pakistan, meanwhile, have played their first two group matches at the Sinhalese Sports Club but will face India at the Premadasa Stadium in Colombo. 

The team secured victories in both matches, defeating the Netherlands in the tournament opener on February 7 and overpowering the USA on Tuesday.