Home
Pakistan's T20 World Cup 2026 campaign faced a major setback with their two-wicket loss to England on February 24. As their chances of reaching the semifinal look bleaker, once again, Babar Azam has become the topic of scrutiny. Arriving at the crease after Saim Ayub and Salman Agha were dismissed cheaply, Babar contributed with a 24-ball 25, his strike rate of 104.17 almost criminal by T20 standards. After the match, Shaheen Afridi who took a four-fer on comeback, was asked about the partnership between Babar and opener Sahibzada Farhan. The left-arm pacer indirectly criticised Babar's scoring rate saying eight or nine runs per over is what you expect in T20s. He also lauded leg-spinner Adil Rashid for not letting Pakistan score at a brisk pace.
"A partnership means you have to have somebody in the crease who can go for single and twos. Throughout a T20 innings you need those eight or nine runs an over, if you want to build a partnership as well. I think that middle phase Adil Rashid bowled really well, so I think the credit goes to him as well," Afridi said in the post-match press conference.
While Pakistan were able to put up a fight after posting a total of 164/9, thanks to Afridi’s four-fer, the pacer feels that they were handsomely short of the par total. He rues lack of partnerships towards the end and lauded centurion Harry Brook for maintaining the tempo throughout the innings.
"I feel in a wicket like this you need a partnership and you need a set batsman in that position who can bat throughout the middle overs," Afridi said. "But unfortunately we lost wickets back to back, which is why we did not go for that 180-190 score.
"If you see, when England batted, Harry Brook stayed at the crease and he was rotating the strike and he was just building partnerships. I think we missed this opportunity to build partnerships.”
Babar in playing XI vs Sri Lanka or to be benched?
Pakistan will now depend on result of other games to qualify for the semifinal. Their last Super 8 game is against co-hosts Sri Lanka on February 28 in Pallekele. It will be interesting to see whether an underfire Babar gets his place back in the top-order or spends time on the bench.
ADVERTISEMENT
