PAK vs ENG: Babar Azam Set to Be Dropped? Fakhar Zaman Likely to Return in Pakistan’s Playing XI For T20 World Cup 2026 Super 8 Clash vs England

The wash out against New Zealand has made things tricky for Pakistan in the Super 8 stage. After rain played spoilsport in Colombo, the two sides had to settle with one point each. Pakistan are now slated to take on England in their next match in Pallekele on Tuesday. 

England are coming into this game on the back of a thumping win against Sri Lanka. Defending 147, England bowled out Sri Lanka for 95 to etch a win by 51 runs. The England side rode on exceptional performance from spin trio of Will Jacks, Liam Dawson and Adil Rashid to get two important points. The three scalped a total of 7 wickets among themselves. 

Pakistan’s Struggle Against Spin

The spinners have been among wickets against Pakistan in this tournament so far. Netherlands’ Aryan Dutt scalped two while Roelof van der Merwe picked up one wicket against Pakistan. The Indian spinners too dominated the Men in Green as Axar Patel, Varun Chakravarthy, Kuldeep Yadav and Tilak Varma bagged a total 6 wickets in the match. Pakistan batting was on a roll against Namibia where they posted 199 at the loss of three wickets. But one of the dismissals came against Gerhard Erasmus. 

England, on the other side have an in-form trio with three different variations. 

How Pakistan Can Negate The Spin Threat?

Pakistan need to take the bold call, drop Babar Azam from the Playing XI and get Fakhar Zaman in the side. In three innings that Babar has played in the tournament so far, he has been dismissed by the spinners on all the occasions especially while trying to accelerate. He has been playing the spinners across the line and because of that, either he miscues the stroke or misses the ball completely. 

Fakhar Zaman is one batter who can negate this spin threat. He is somebody who is better when it comes to executing the sweep stroke and can also charge against the spinner. 

Moreover, Nepal executed the plan pretty well against Adil Rashid when they used the square boundaries to negotiate the spin. Rashid ended up giving away runs at an economy of 14. 

Pakistan had earlier promoted Khawaja Nafay and Shadab Khan ahead of Babar Azam in the batting line up against Namibia as the management wanted somebody to accelerate which Shadab did pretty well. So, it’s simple for Pakistan. Replace Babar with Zaman and let him bat at number 4 with Nafay and Shadab following in next. 

Also Read: PAK vs ENG Weather Update | Pakistan Battle Thunderstorms And England as Rain Threat Looms Large Over T20 World Cup Super 8 Clash in Pallekele