Pakistan’s underfire batter Babar Azam retained his place in the playing eleven for the must-win ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 clash after a dismal show against India. While Babar was preferred over Fakhar Zaman once again, captain Salman Agha dropped left-arm pacer Shaheen Afridi and Abrar Ahmed. In their absence, Agha included Salman Mirza and bolstered the batting lineup with Khawaja Nafay.
After failing to chase down 176 against India at R.Premadasa Stadium, Colombo, Agha won the toss and opted to bat first at Sinhalese Sports Club, Colombo.
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What Agha said at the toss?
“We are going to bat first. We have played two games here. It is a good pitch. We just want to score above par and put them under pressure with the scoreboard pressure,” Agha said at the coin toss.
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Agha was asked whether he is feeling the pressure for the Namibia game.
“Not really, we have been here like previously as well. And when you come to the World Cup like this, you have fixtures like that. You pretty much have to win every single game and we are ready for the game,” he said.
However, he admitted that there is a need to bolster the batting after the collapse against India.
“Yeah, yeah, the batting has just been a concern for us. We need to bat well. We have batted well against USA. We need to do the similar kind of performance today as well. We've got two changes. Salman and Nafay are playing. Shaheen and Abrar are missing out,” he concluded.
Pakistan Playing XI vs Namibia
Sahibzada Farhan, Saim Ayub, Salman Agha(c), Babar Azam, Usman Khan(wk), Khawaja Nafay, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Faheem Ashraf, Salman Mirza, Usman Tariq
Namibia Playing XI vs Pakistan
Namibia Playing XI vs Pakistan
Louren Steenkamp, Jan Frylinck, Jan Nicol Loftie-Eaton, Gerhard Erasmus(c), Alexander Volschenk, JJ Smit, Zane Green (wk), Ruben Trumpelmann, Willem Myburgh, Bernard Scholtz, Jack Brassell.