T20 World Cup 2026 | Babar Azam, Shaheen Afridi to Get Dropped After Pakistan’s Humiliating Defeat vs India?

Pakistan star players Babar Azam and Shaheen Afridi are likely to be dropped from the Playing XI in the side’s next match against Namibia in the T20 World Cup 2026. According to Geo News, ‘the team management has grown frustrated with the lacklustre performances’ of the two senior players.

While Shaheen Afridi was hit for 31 runs in 2 overs and only managed to pick one wicket, Babar Azam was dismissed for 5 off 7 against India in Colombo on Sunday. Pakistan suffered a massive 61-run defeat against the Men in Blue and the Salman Ali Agha-led side now needs to win the match against Namibia to march ahead in the Super 8s. 

Pakistan were bundled out for 114 while chasing 176. The batters put up a forgettable show as the Indian bowlers picked up regular wickets and reduced them to 34/4 in the powerplay overs. Hardik Pandya was the pick of the bowlers as he bagged a couple of wickets for 16 runs in three overs and also bowled a maiden. 

Earlier, Ishan Kishan smashed 77 off 40 to help the side put up 175/7 in 20 overs. 

Coach Mike Hesson had suggested that his players needed more work to perform better under pressure. “Look it’s very much when a guy’s putting you under pressure — are you going to stick to your basics or are you going to go away from that? And I think that’s going to be a real challenge because as the tournament progresses, we’ll be put under pressure again,” he said in the post-match press conference.

“And it’s how we respond when we’re under the pump. All these guys are international players, they’re all good players, but when the pressure comes on, are they going to trust the decision-making or are they going to probably go outside that? That’s something we’re going to have to get better at,” Hesson added.

“We were believing in our spinners and they had an off day today. Execution was missing in some parts of the game. We were obviously going to always believe our spinners, because they’ve done really well in last six month. And with the batting I think we didn’t start well and in T20 games if we lose 3 or 4 wickets in powerplay, you are always chasing the game,” captain Salman Ali Agha said. 

With this win, Team India has registered a place in the Super 8 stage. 

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