Pakistan Beat India by 4 Wickets in Hong Kong Sixes

Pakistan beat India by four wickets in a Hong Kong Sixes classic on Friday, October 30, 2026, chasing down a target of 89 in just 3.5 overs at Mong Kok. It was the fastest kind of revenge for a morning defeat, and it kept the defending champions alive in Group C of the six-a-side tournament.

India, asked to bat first after Pakistan captain Mohammad Abbas Afridi won the toss, posted 88 for five in their six overs. Pakistan's reply barely gave the crowd time to settle. Abbas Afridi and Khawaja Nafay raced to 59 without loss after two overs, reached 73 for one after three, and sealed the win with 13 balls to spare, finishing on 91 for two. In a format built for six-hitting, Pakistan played it exactly as it is meant to be played.

UPDATE (October 31): The group decider has now been played. On Saturday, the UAE beat India by six wickets — India posted 94 for six, and Khalid Shah (52 not out off 14 balls) and Ansh Tandon (39 not out off 12) chased the 95-run target without losing a wicket, finishing on 97 in 4.2 overs. The UAE top Group C unbeaten and advance to the Cup semi-finals against Australia. Pakistan finish second and move to the Plate semi-finals against hosts Hong Kong, while India finish last and drop to the Bowl semi-finals against England. Pakistan's defence of the main Cup trophy is over, but the Plate is still to play for.

The over that decided the match

The tone was set in the very first over of the chase. India captain Krunal Pandya took the new ball himself, and Abbas Afridi hit him for five sixes in the over. The over cost 31 runs, and from that moment India were chasing the game rather than defending a total.

T. Natarajan came on for the second over and fared little better, conceding 28 as Pakistan moved to 59 without loss. Abbas Afridi, who finished with 35 off just eight balls, including five sixes and a four, was named Player of the Match. Khawaja Nafay matched him blow for blow with 41 off 12 balls, including five sixes and two fours. When the winning moment came, Muhammad Irfan Khan struck a six off his only delivery to finish the job in the fourth over.

It was a captain's performance in every sense. Afridi had already starred in last year's final, and on Friday he again led from the front, this time with the bat in the biggest group game of the tournament. Nafay, meanwhile, showed why he is trusted at the top of the order in this format: he did not nudge and nurdle, he cleared the ropes, again and again.

How India reached 88 for five

India's innings had one outstanding passage and not quite enough around it. Openers Rahul Tripathi and Nitish Rana collected 11 runs from the first over, before Muhammad Shahzad struck in the second, removing Tripathi for nine off five balls.

Shashank Singh then produced the innings of India's day. He counter-attacked immediately, smashed 16 runs off three balls at one stage, and accelerated again in the fourth over with three sixes and a boundary. He finished with 40 off just 11 balls, including five sixes and two fours, and for a while it looked as though he alone might drag India to a defendable total.

But Pakistan's bowlers kept taking wickets at the other end. Rana, who made 19 off 14 balls, was retired out in the fifth over. Abdul Samad then produced the decisive over of India's innings, dismissing Rahul Tewatia for a golden duck and India captain Krunal Pandya for a duck off the very next ball. Samad finished with two wickets for 10 runs in his over, the pick of Pakistan's bowling figures. Ahmed Daniyal removed Shashank off the first ball of the final over, and T. Natarajan's unbeaten 12 off six balls took India to 88 for five.

The scorecard tells the story of the two innings. India had one batter who dominated, but too many quiet overs around him. Pakistan had two batters who dominated together, and no quiet over at all.

A morning defeat that made this win matter more

Friday had started badly for Pakistan. In their opening Group C match earlier in the day, the defending champions were stunned by the United Arab Emirates, who chased down Pakistan's 106 to win by one wicket off the very last ball, finishing on 109 for five.

That defeat had a familiar shape. Abbas Afridi top-scored with 53 off just 13 balls, including one four and eight sixes, and Abdul Samad made an unbeaten 39 off 15. But UAE captain Khalid Shah answered with 71 off 20 balls, including three fours and nine sixes, and the champions could not defend their total.

Losing the opener left Pakistan close to elimination before they had even faced India. A second defeat would have ended their title defence on day one. Instead, the India win turned the group on its head and gave Pakistan a fighting chance of reaching the Cup competition, the main knockout bracket of the tournament.

What the India win does to Group C

Pakistan have now completed their group fixtures with one win and one defeat. India lost their final group match to the UAE on Saturday, October 31, so the group finished with the UAE unbeaten on top, Pakistan second and India last — the sixes tie-breaker that Friday's win had set up for Pakistan was not needed in the end.

On that count, Pakistan currently lead the way. Reports put Pakistan's Group C sixes tally at 23 across their two matches, followed by the UAE with 12 in one match and India with seven in one match. In other words, Pakistan's power-hitting has given them more than just two points: it has given them a tie-breaker advantage that could prove decisive on Saturday.

That is worth remembering when people talk about this format as if it were only entertainment. Sixes are not just highlights in the Hong Kong Sixes, they are currency. Afridi's five sixes in one over against India were not just spectacular, they were strategically valuable.

Group C after Friday's matches	Played	Won	Lost	Sixes
Pakistan	2	1	1	23
UAE	1	1	0	12
India	1	0	1	7

That remaining group match has now been played, and it went the UAE's way. On Saturday, October 31, the UAE beat India by six wickets to finish top of Group C unbeaten, which sends the UAE to the Cup semi-finals and Pakistan, as runners-up, to the Plate semi-finals. The tournament final is scheduled for Sunday, November 1.

The familiar subplot at the toss

The match also carried the now-familiar subplot of recent India-Pakistan meetings. Reports from Hong Kong noted that captains Krunal Pandya and Abbas Afridi did not exchange a handshake at the toss, which Pakistan won before choosing to bowl first. The same non-handshake pattern has been seen at senior India-Pakistan fixtures over the past year, and it continued here even in a short, festival-style format.

Reports also noted that the broadcast feed was cut immediately after Pakistan's winning hit, so there was no televised picture of any post-match interaction between the sides. Whatever the off-field story, the on-field story was clear: Pakistan's batting did the talking, and it did so very loudly.

Defending champions with a record to protect

Pakistan entered this tournament as defending champions and as the most successful team in Hong Kong Sixes history. They won their sixth title in 2025, beating Kuwait by 43 runs in the final on November 9, 2025, with Abbas Afridi scoring 52 off just 11 balls in that final and being named both Player of the Final and Player of the Tournament.

Pakistan's earlier titles came in 1992, 1997, 2001, 2002 and 2011. The 2025 triumph moved them ahead of England and South Africa, who have five titles each. A seventh title in 2026 would extend that record, and Friday's win over India keeps that ambition alive.

The squad named by the Pakistan Cricket Board for this edition is a seven-member group built for this format: Mohammad Abbas Afridi (captain), Abdul Samad, Ahmed Daniyal, Muhammad Irfan Khan, Khawaja Nafay, Muhammad Shahzad and Saad Masood. It is a young, fearless group, and on Friday it played without fear when the tournament was on the line.

India's squad, led by Krunal Pandya, featured Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Shashank Singh, Rahul Tewatia, Nitish Rana, Rahul Tripathi and T. Natarajan. On paper it was a strong, experienced group. On the day, it was out-hit by a Pakistan side that understood the assignment of six-a-side cricket better.

What this win means for Pakistani fans

For Pakistani fans, this was more than a group-stage win in a festival tournament. It was a Pakistan-India win, and those always carry extra weight, whatever the format. It was also a comeback win, coming hours after a last-ball defeat that could easily have knocked the confidence out of a young side.

The wider context makes it even sweeter. On Saturday, October 31, Pakistan's senior ODI side face Sri Lanka in the tri-series final at Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore, a match previewed earlier today on Cric Sports Daily. Pakistani sport, in other words, has a huge weekend ahead, and Friday's six-hitting display in Hong Kong was a fine way to start it.

Read also: Pakistan vs Sri Lanka Final: Time, XIs, Hesson's Big Call.

What happens next

The group stage is now complete. The UAE, as Group C winners, face Australia in the Cup semi-finals, while Pakistan, as runners-up, contest the Plate semi-finals against hosts Hong Kong, and India, last in the group, go to the Bowl semi-finals against England. The Cup semi-finals were scheduled for Saturday, October 31, with the tournament final on Sunday, November 1 — so Pakistan's Plate campaign, not the main trophy, is now where the defending champions' weekend continues.

Either way, Friday gave the defending champions something no tie-breaker can measure: momentum. A team that can chase 89 in 3.5 overs, after losing a last-ball thriller in the morning, is a team that believes it can win this tournament again. The rest of the field has been warned.

Images are illustrative Wikimedia Commons photographs of cricket action, not photographs from the Hong Kong match. Credits: Gaddafi Stadium at Night (CC BY-SA 4.0, Younisjunejo); Gaddafi Stadium during PSL 2026 (CC0); Pakistan vs Australia at Gaddafi Stadium 2022 (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Sources: IANS match report; Centreline; Cricket News; Geo Super; ESPNcricinfo scorecards; CricTracker.