Indian captain Suryakumar Yadav has stated that the Indian team will travel to Colombo as scheduled regardless of whether the much-anticipated India–Pakistan group match ultimately takes place. His comments come at a time when uncertainty looms large over India vs Pakistan's T20 World Cup group stage match following the Pakistan government's announcement that they will boycott their match against India in Sri Lanka.
Pakistan are slated to play all of their World Cup matches in Sri Lanka, with the India game set for Colombo in less than two weeks (February 15). Despite the noise surrounding the situation, Suryakumar made it clear that India’s plans remain unchanged.
"Mindset is pretty clear. We have not refused to play them. They have said no. ICC organised the fixture. Our flight to Colombo is booked. So we are going. We'll see what happens later." Suryakumar said at the captains' media interaction on Thursday.
Suryakumar Yadav provided an update on Washington Sundar, who is nursing a side strain that ruled him out of the New Zealand T20Is recently. Yadav, citing the example of Tilak Varma as to how patience had yielded fruitful results, said that patience is also being maintained with regard to Sundar's recovery, as they don't want to rush him back into action without him being completely fit.
“Tilak Varma got a break; he couldn’t play the New Zealand series. When he came back, he was a different player. He played an A-series game and also yesterday. We are hoping Washington will also be the same way,” Suryakumar said.
“We spoke to him. He is doing really well and is almost there. We want him to be fully fit when he comes back. We are happy to be patient with him,” Yadav said.