India is in Group A, sharing the pool with three minnow cricket-playing nations

India’s Men in Blue are less than three days away from their opening match in the ICC T20 World Cup, sharing the group with three minnow sides and one inexperienced team. Ahead of the first game, check out an overview of all four of India’s opponents from Group A.

United States of America

(Credit- Sporstar)

The United States of America is sort of a rookie on the scene, having played only the T20 World Cup in 2024. Being an associate team, America is yet to venture into Test cricket, and as far as its rivalry and history versus India, there’s little to nothing. After all, the two sides have met each other only once, i.e., in 2024 during a group stage clash which was won by India by seven wickets. Since 2019, America has played 54 T20I games, winning 34 and losing 21— this seems like an impressive record, but one must not forget that most of the games have been against other associate countries.

Namibia

Hailing from Southern Africa, Namibia is also one of the newest associate countries that have progressed enough to qualify for the T20 World Cup. The team from Africa has played only one T20I game ever against India, and the match took place during the ICC T20 World Cup 2021. It wasn’t a surprise that India won the game by nine wickets. Overall, Namibia has played 84 matches, winning 52 and losing 31.

Netherlands

Unlike the United States of America and Namibia, the Netherlands team has been playing World Cups for a long time, but unfortunately, the team hasn’t shown outstanding progress except for a few big hits on some occasions. India and the Netherlands have played only one T20I game against each other, which was in the ICC T20 World Cup 2022, which the Men in Blue won by 56 runs. Overall, the Netherlands have played 129 T20I matches, having won 64 games and lost 59.

PAK

Finally, the last team that India shares its pool with is none other than arch-rival PAK. As the world is well aware, PAK’s record against India in the ICC T20 World Cup is embarrassing. In eight matches played so far, India has won six, whereas PAK has only one victory in their name, and one game ended in a tie. Even in the overall head-to-head count in the T20, India and PAK have played 16 matches against each other, with India winning 13, whereas PAK settled for a meagre three. In short, PAK has never been a worthy contender against India in T20Is.

And as far as PAK’s stance of not playing India is concerned, the Indian cricket fraternity stands unbothered and is happy to receive free points in the event PAK wishes to save itself from another embarrassment on the world stage.