Babar Azam was dropped for Pakistan’s must-win game against Sri Lanka in the 2026 T20 World Cup. “Massive opportunity. We need to bat well, bowl well and field well and everything will be fine.
With Pakistan needing a big win over Sri Lanka to make it to the semi-final, the management dropped Babar. He has scored 91 runs in four innings so far. The right-handed batter has a below-par strike rate of 112.34. Pakistan also dropped Saim Ayub and Salman Mirza. They were replaced by Naseem Shah, Abrar Ahmad an Khawaja Nafay.
“It’s a massive opportunity. We just need to play a perfect game, bowl well, bat well, and field well, and I think everything will be fine. Yeah, we would have bowled first definitely, but there is no way we can do that while batting. So you just need to put up a good total and try to restrict them. It’s a mix, (knowing the calculations) to be very honest. Sometimes it can be tough and sometimes it’s easy,” Salma Agha said at the toss.
“You have the freedom to go and just play shots or you know what you need to do. But yeah, it’s a mixed kind of a thing. We’ll just try to play a perfect game and I think the rest will be fine. Yeah, we got three changes. Babar Azam, Saim Ayub, and Salman Mirza are not playing. Naseem Shah, Khawaja Nafay, and Abrar Ahmed are playing,” he added.
On Saturday (February), PTI reported that Babar is set to be dropped and he might played his last T20I game for Pakistan. is reportedly ‘unhappy’ with the team and Agha is set to be sacked as the captain after the tournament.
Sri Lanka bowling first
Meanwhile, Sri Lanka won the toss and opted to bowl first. Pakistan have to register a big total on the board and register a massive win to improve their NRR. They have 1 point in their account at an NRR of -0.461. New Zealand have 3 points at an NRR of +1.390. A big win will see Pakistan pip NZ’s NRR. England and South Africa have punched their ticket to the semi-final.