Pakistan captain Salman Ali Agha on Monday said the national team will continue to pursue an aggressive brand of cricket ahead of the 2026 ICC T20 World Cup, which will take place in February and March.
After a series of under-performances in the shortest format, which emerged from their dismal 2024 T20 World Cup campaign, the Green Shirts changed their strategy to keep up with the fast-paced nature of modern cricket, with Agha appointed as Pakistan captain, followed by the ouster of senior players such as Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan.
The new strategy yielded mixed results for Pakistan as they won 17 out of 29 matches under Agha’s captaincy.
Pakistan’s most recent appearance in the format was at the 2025 ACC Men’s T20 Asia Cup, where they lost to arch-rivals India three times, including the final. The upset of the continental tournament forced Pakistan to adjust their player pool and bring in the experienced duo of Babar and Naseem Shah.
The return of the experienced players, who were believed to have fallen out of favour, sparked speculation about a shift in Pakistan’s ‘strategy’ for the T20Is but Agha categorically dismissed them while speaking at the pre-series press conference here at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium.
The Pakistan captain emphasized that the team is sticking to their existing strategy of playing according to the conditions and in line with the par score of each venue.
“As I said before, our strategy is to analyze the statistics of every ground we play on [when we bat] we are trying to exceed the par score. It is still the same strategy and it will continue till the T20 World Cup,” Agha told reporters on the eve of their home T20I match against South Africa.
“So we just have to look at the par score of a venue and try to score about 15 more runs so that our bowling attack can take advantage. Similarly, when we bowl first, we try to bowl the opponent under par score to support our batting unit,” he explained.
It is pertinent to mention that Pakistan will strengthen their preparations for next year’s T20 World Cup with a three-match home series against South Africa, starting here on Tuesday.
However, the remaining two matches of the series will be played at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore on October 31 and November 1 respectively.
Pakistan squad for South Africa T20Is
Salman Ali Agha (c), Abdul Samad, Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Faheem Ashraf, Hasan Nawaz, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Mohammad Salman Mirza, Naseem Shah, Sahibzada Farhan, Saim Ayub, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Usman Khan (wk) and Usman Tariq.
