Pakistan cricket team have decided to drop Shaheen Afridi from their playing XI in their must-win tie against Namibia in the T20 World Cup 2026. Salman Ali Agha and co, who won two games on the trot in the tournament, were handed a 61-run defeat by India in their previous game, putting them at a position where they must win against Namibia in order to make it to the Super 8. Pakistan have made two changes to their playing XI, including dropping premium pacer Afridi.
Pakistan playing XI vs Namibia
Sahibzada Farhan, Saim Ayub, Salman Agha(c), Babar Azam, Usman Khan(w), Khawaja Nafay, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Faheem Ashraf, Salman Mirza, Usman Tariq
Bench: Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah, Fakhar Zaman, Abrar Ahmed
After lacklustre performances in the previous contests, Pakistan have finally decided to drop Shaheen from their playing XI. Once considered the side’s best bowler across formats, Afridi has simply failed to live up to his expectations in the ongoing tournament. He has been replaced by Salman Mirza in the clash against Namibia. Afridi only managed to pick up 3 wickets in as many matches in the T20 World Cup and was also quite expensive against India, conceding 31 runs in 2 overs.
Pakistan have decided to replace Abrar Ahmed with Khawaja Nafay. However, they have made no changes to their line-up in terms of the batting order. This means Babar Azam, who has been out of form, has been given yet another chance. In three matches, he has registered scores of 5, 46 and 15, thereby putting extreme pressure on the middle-order. This means Fakhar Zaman will continue to warm the bench.
Pakistan have won the toss and have opted to bat first against Namibia in Colombo.
