The Pakistan cricket team is reportedly set to drop former captains Babar Azam and Shaheen Afridi for Wednesday’s match against Namibia in the 2026 T20 World Cup. According to Geo News, ‘the team management has grown frustrated with the lacklustre performances’ of the two senior players.
The move comes after Pakistan’s huge 61-run defeat to rivals India on Sunday (February 15). Losses to India often draw knee-jerk reactions from the Men in Green, but Babar and Afridi’s performances have been under the cross-hairs for quite some time now. Babar came to bat at number four and managed just five runs off seven balls, going for an ugly slog against Axar Patel and missing it altogether to lose his stumps.
Afridi, meanwhile, conceded 31 runs in his two overs at an economy rate of 15.50, the most expensive for anyone on the night.
After the match, coach Mike Hesson had suggested that his players needed more work to perform better under pressure, saying that they are forgetting the basics too often at the moment.
“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.
If Pakistan were to drop Babar and Shaheen, they could turn to Fakhar Zaman and Naseem Shah. The match against Namibia is a crucial one to take this gamble, because although even a point from a washed-out game would see them through to the Super-Eight stage, a loss could bring elimination.
