ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and India will face off in a high-octane T20 World Cup clash in October this year, the International Cricket Council (ICC) announced on Friday.
The Super 12 will begin on Oct. 16 and run for a fortnight, with the two groups set to reach their conclusion on the weekend of Nov. 5-6.
Pakistan and India will lock horns in Melbourne on Oct. 23, after qualifying for the Super 12 stage of the 16-nation tournament, which Australia will host for the first time.
“England, New Zealand, Australia and Afghanistan have been drawn together in Group 1, with India, Pakistan, South Africa and Bangladesh heading into Group 2,” the ICC announced.
After taking on India, Pakistan will play a Group B qualifier match on Oct. 27 and a Group A Qualifier match on Oct. 30. Both matches will take place in Perth.
On Nov. 3, Babar Azam XI will take on South Africa in Sydney, followed by a clash with Bangladesh on Nov. 6 in Adelaide.
The high-intensity Pakistan-India match is expected to draw millions of viewers across the globe.
The two nuclear-armed neighbors, who have fought three wars over the past seven decades, have an intense cricket rivalry and have not played a bilateral series for over five years now due to tense relations.
They have only meet in ICC events, with the last one being the T20 Word Cup fixture in Dubai in November 2021, during which Green Shirts thumped Men in Blue by 10 wickets to record Pakistan’s first World Cup triumph over India.
Pakistan to take on India again in T20 World Cup clash this year
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Pakistan to take on India again in T20 World Cup clash this year
- Pakistan will clash with India on Oct. 23 in Melbourne
- Pakistan recorded their first win over India in World Cups last year in Dubai
Security forces kill 11 militants in separate operations in Pakistan’s northwest
- Pakistan has struggled to contain a surge in militancy in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province that borders Afghanistan
- Militant groups such as the Pakistani Taliban frequently target convoys of security forces, police and government officials
ISLAMABAD: Security forces gunned down 11 Pakistani Taliban militants in separate operations in the country’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province, the Pakistani military said on Saturday, amid a surge in militancy in the South Asian country.
The first intelligence-based operation was conducted in North Waziristan district, which borders Afghanistan, during which six militants were killed, according to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the military’s media wing.
Another joint intelligence-based operation by police and security forces was conducted in the Kurram district, which led to the killing of five other Pakistani Taliban militants in a fire exchange.
“Weapons and ammunition were also recovered from killed Indian-sponsored khwarij (militants), who remained actively involved in numerous terrorist activities,” the ISPR said in a statement.
“Sanitization operations are being conducted to eliminate any other Indian-sponsored kharja (militant) found in the area.”
There was no immediate comment by New Delhi to the Pakistani military statement.
Pakistan has struggled to contain a surge in militancy in KP in recent years. Militant groups such as the Pakistani Taliban, or the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), have frequently targeted convoys of security forces, police stations and check-posts besides kidnapping government officials in the region.
Last year, the South Asian country saw 73 percent increase in combat-related deaths, with both security forces and militants suffering casualties in large numbers.
As per statistics released by the Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies (PICSS), combat-related deaths in 2025 rose 73 percent to 3,387, compared with 1,950 in 2024. These deaths included 2,115 militants, 664 security forces personnel, 580 civilians and 28 members of pro-government peace committees (combatants), the think tank said in a press release.
Islamabad has frequently accused Afghanistan of allowing its soil and India of backing militant groups, including the TTP, for attacks against Pakistan. Kabul and New Delhi have consistently denied this.
