Salman Ali Agha, the Pakistan captain, was grilled by journalists after the Green Shirts crashed out of the T20 World Cup 2026 on Saturday.
This is the fourth ICC event in a row in which Pakistan failed to reach the semi-finals, following the 2023 ODI World Cup, the 2024 T20 World Cup, and the 2025 Champions Trophy. In the Group 2 Super 8s contest against Sri Lanka, the task was simple for Pakistan: restrict the opponent to 147 and win the contest by 65 runs; however, it wasn’t to be after Sri Lanka managed to reach the score of 207, leading to Pakistan crashing out of the tenth edition of the T20 World Cup.
Throughout the tournament, Agha was underwhelming with both the bat and as a skipper. The right-hander managed just 60 runs in the six innings he came out to the middle. As a skipper, some of his tactical calls on the field were baffling, and he came under fire from several former players, including Mohammad Hafeez, Basit Ali, Ahmed Shehzad, Mohammad Amir and Shoaib Akhtar.
During the post-match press conference, a reporter straight up asked Agha whether he would step down as captain on his own or be removed by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).
Answering the question, Agha said, “I think we haven’t played as well as we should have in the World Cup. Right now, I think any decision taken right now will be emotional. We will go back and take some time and then make the required decision.”
Agha might have sidestepped this question, but another reporter came up with a provocative query, asking Agha whether he was treated as a “dummy captain” by the head coach Mike Hesson. This question was posed in reference to Babar Azam and how the head coach publicly criticised the former Pakistan captain’s strike rate in the powerplay, and was demoted to No.4 to be eventually dropped for the must-win clash against Sri Lanka.
Looking Agha straight in the eye, the reporter asked, “Mike Hesson makes the captain and removes the captain. He has a lot of votes in the selection and a lot of opinions in the playing 11. Do you think he is dominating more, and he is portraying you as a dummy captain?”
This question seemed to have gotten on the nerves of the 32-year-old, and Agha replied, “The problem is that if I don’t answer this, you will take disrespect. But sir, listen to me. When a team is formed, it is a team game. It is not formed by one person’s decision. It is the result of the decisions of all stakeholders. Babar had a different role in this World Cup.”
“He was a number 4; he had a better experience. We needed a batsman who could come in the middle order and provide stability and save us from collapse. He had a different role. And when you come to the World Cup, you define the players’ roles. He had this role, and we were looking at it from this point,” he added.
What happened in the match between Pakistan and Sri Lanka?
Pakistan were given a glimmer of hope of qualifying for the semi-finals after England defeated New Zealand. The task was simple for Pakistan: win by 65 runs and qualify for the last four. Batting first, Pakistan posted 212/8 in 20 overs after Sahibzada Farhan scored his second century of the tournament. Fakhar Zaman also came up with an 84-run knock.
Pakistan was then required to restrict Sri Lanka to 147, but it wasn’t to be as Sri Lanka reached 207 after Dasun Shanaka’s unbeaten 76-run knock of 31 balls.