Pakistan captain Salman Agha termed their 32-run victory against USA in the ongoing ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 at the Sinhalese Sports Club in Colombo as a “clinical” one.
Speaking at the post-match presentation ceremony, Agha said: “I always smile. When have you seen me not smile? (laughs). Clinical win. Last game we didn’t bat well in the middle overs, but today we did. Once we scored 190, we knew we could defend that. I would’ve batted first after winning the toss. With the kind of bowling we have, we know we can win even with 160-170. We are Pakistan, we do things differently to the world.”
“We’re comfortable with chasing as well. Our batting order is flexible. First three will probably go in the same order but we’re flexible after that. We have finishers who can go early if we don’t get too many wickets at first. But if you get early wickets, we still have a batter who can go and obviously take the game deep and then allow the finishers to come and finish the game as well,” he added.
Pakistan openers Sahibzada Farhan and Saim Ayub gave the team a solid start with a 54-run stand for the first wicket. Farhan then added 81 runs off 52 balls with Babar Azam to put Pakistan in a strong position. Farhan was the standout performer with 73 off 41 balls, including six fours and five sixes at a strike rate of 178.05. Babar chipped in with 46 as Pakistan posted 190/9 in their 20 overs.
USA bowlers pulled things back at the end, picking up Pakistan’s last five wickets for just 13 runs. Shadley van Schalkwyk, who had impressed against India earlier, once again stood out with figures of 4/25.
In reply, USA failed to build strong partnerships. Shubham Ranjane scored 51 while Shayan Jahangir made 49, but no other batter could make a significant impact. Usman Tariq led Pakistan’s bowling effort with three wickets as USA finished at 158/8 in 20 overs, handing Pakistan a comfortable 32-run win.
Also read- T20 World Cup 2026: “He can be Player of the Tournament” – Ponting backs Abhishek Sharma
For the latest sports news follow- Revsportz