Relations between India and Pakistan aren’t exactly friendly. Things remain similarly hostile when the two nations play one of the common sports, cricket. No more handshakes, exchange of gifts, words of praise, or even cheerful banter.
In the 2025 Asia Cup, we saw things heat up when India and Pakistan faced off three times. Sledging, over-the-top celebrations, and even objectionable signalling happened. Jasprit Bumrah, one of the more couth cricketers in the world, also got sucked into it.
How India-Pakistan relationship affects USA
Not just nations, but also Indian and Pakistani cricketers were at odds as well. Fascinatingly, that makes playing cricket for the United States of America (USA) tougher. You see, most of the cricketers representing the USA are expats from India and Pakistan.
USA’s captain Monank Patel represented Gujarat in underage cricket and even played alongside Bumrah and Axar Patel. But he isn’t the only player of Indian origin in Team USA.
Nine players of Indian origin are part of the USA’s squad for the T20 World Cup 2026: Monank, Jessy Singh, Milind Kumar, Saiteja Mukkamala, Sanjay Krishnamurthi, Harmeet Singh, Nosthush Kenjige, Saurabh Netravalkar, and Shubham Ranjane. Of the remaining six, three are of Pakistani origin: Shayan Jahangir, Ali Khan, and Mohammad Mohsin.
Monank, who has played 71 ODIs and 43 T20Is for the USA, has assured that there’s no divide inside the team due to players of Indian or Pakistani origin sharing the dressing room. The 32-year-old stated that when you represent the USA, other than winning, nothing else matters.
“There’s no Indian, no Pakistani when you represent the USA. Everyone is representing the country, and we have been playing for a long time, and we are very close friends and very close teammates, and our goal is to make sure that we give our best and stay committed. They (Ali, Jahangir, and Mohsin) are our teammates. There’s no Indian, no Pakistani when it comes to cricket,” Monank told PTI.
The USA are placed in Group A and will face India, Pakistan, the Netherlands and Namibia in the group stage.
USA’s squad for T20 World Cup 2026
Monank Patel (c), Jessy Singh, Andries Gous, Shehan Jayasuriya, Milind Kumar, Shayan Jahangir, Saiteja Mukkamala, Sanjay Krishnamurthi, Harmeet Singh, Nosthush Kenjige, Shadley Van Schalkwyk, Saurabh Netravalkar, Ali Khan, Mohammad Mohsin, Shubham Ranjane
