Salman Ali Agha’s fate as the Pakistan cricket team’s captain was sealed before they were knocked out of the T20 World Cup 2026. At least, that’s what the reports suggested. Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman Mohsin Naqvi isn’t pleased with Pakistan’s consistent failures despite giving the team management and selectors full authority.
Naqvi feels Pakistan is lagging behind modern T20 cricket. He was to drop several players. But his main ask is sacking Agha as captain. Despite boasting an impressive win-loss record of 31-18, Agha, with head coach Mike Hesson, has failed to do anything substantial since he was named captain in March 2025.
Batting let Pakistan down
After Pakistan dashed out of the T20 World Cup after beating Sri Lanka by 5 runs, Agha admitted the performance hadn’t been great. He was talking about him and Pakistan as an entire unit, especially in the batting department.
“You are absolutely right that I played quite well at number three during the Sri Lanka and Australia series, but I couldn’t deliver the kind of performance in this World Cup that I should have. Aside from Sahibzada Farhan, I don’t think we played well as a batting unit throughout the tournament,” Agha said.
Shouldn’t have emotional calls
He also addressed rumours suggesting that the PCB will remove him as captain. Agha feels the board should make a decision, but not in haste. They must settle down and not take decisions in the heat of the moment. If they feel he should be moved on from after a week as well, so be it.
“Regarding the decision (on captaincy), I think any decision made right now would be emotional. We will go back, take a few days, and then whatever decision needs to be made will be made,” he responded to rumours.
Crumbling under pressure
Agha feels Pakistan underperformed throughout the T20 World Cup. And the Sri Lanka game was the perfect example of that. The Men in Green have failed in pressure moments, letting their intensity down for a couple of overs here and there, which has resulted in the losses.
“If you look at the entire tournament, and if I had to sum it up, I think we significantly underperformed. In a 20-over game (against Sri Lanka), we played 18 overs very well, but the other team only needed two good overs to capitalise. Our execution in the last 3 overs wasn’t good (with the ball). We are a much better bowling unit than this, and we have bowled better in the past. Today, our execution was simply missing. You are right that we haven’t reached the semifinals in the last four ICC tournaments. The reason is that we need to learn how to elevate our game under pressure,” he said.
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