Pallekele, February 24 – Pakistan won the toss and chose to bat against England in the Group 2 match of the Super 8s of the 2026 T20 World Cup at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium in Kandy, Sri Lanka, on Tuesday. Pakistan has dropped Faheem Ashraf and brought in Shaheen Afridi in the playing eleven, while England is playing with the same eleven from their last match against Sri Lanka.
Pakistan captain Salman Ali Agha said, "We will bat first. The pitch looks good. We will try to score a high score and then defend it. Wherever you go, you have to adapt to the conditions. We need to do that quickly. Because we arrived here two days ago. We are playing in Sri Lanka, and the conditions are similar. We know what to expect here. Yes, we have one change. Faheem Ashraf is not playing. Shaheen is coming in. We also have a very strong spin attack. To be honest, we also have a very good fast bowling attack. If we need a fast bowler, we can bring him in. If we need a spinner, I can also bring him in. This is an added responsibility when you captain a team. I am excited. I am enjoying this. I am really looking forward to this game."
England captain Harry Brook said, "We would have also batted first. We prefer that. It's a fresh pitch, so hopefully it will be a little better and give us a good opportunity to chase in the second innings. The same team. Yes, we have a lot of confidence. And as you said, we haven't had our perfect game yet. We are waiting for that, and hopefully it's just around the corner. Yes, we obviously have a lot of data and footage. We have been able to study them quite a bit. But they are not the only ones – we have studied all their bowlers and batsmen. We are very well prepared, and hopefully we can have a good night. That would be lovely, wouldn't it? But you never know in T20 cricket. It's such a fickle game. We just have to go out there, try to play our best cricket, and stick to our processes as much as possible."
Playing XIs:
Pakistan: Sahibzada Farhan, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha (c), Babar Azam, Fakhar Zaman, Usman Khan (wk), Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Shaheen Afridi, Usman Tariq, Salman Mirza
England: Philip Salt, Jos Buttler (wk), Jacob Bethell, Tom Banton, Harry Brook (c), Sam Curran, Will Jacks, Liam Dawson, Jamie Overton, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid
