Pallekele, Feb 24 (.) Pakistan won the toss and elected to bat first against England in the 45th Match of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 Super 8 Group 2 clash at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium on Tuesday.
Opting to set a target on what he described as a good batting surface, Pakistan captain Salman Agha said his side was aiming for an above-par total. “We’re going to bat first. It looks like a good pitch and we want to put up an above-par score and then try to defend it. From the rained-off game, Faheem misses out and Shaheen comes back into the side,” he said.
Salman added that although this was Pakistan’s first game of the tournament in Pallekele, the team had acclimatised to Sri Lankan conditions after playing most of their matches in Colombo. He also expressed confidence in both the spin and pace departments and said he was relishing his first ICC tournament as captain.
England skipper Harry Brook said he too would have preferred to bat first but was confident of chasing. “We would have batted as well. It’s a fresh pitch compared to what we played on a couple of days ago, so hopefully it’s a bit better and gives us a good chance to chase later on. We’re going in with the same team and there’s a lot of confidence in the group,” he said.
Brook noted that England had done their homework on Pakistan, including preparing for unorthodox options like Usman Tariq. He added that a win would bring them closer to a semifinal berth but cautioned that T20 cricket can turn quickly.
Pakistan currently hold a 70 per cent win probability compared to England’s 30 per cent ahead of the start, according to pre-match projections.
Teams:
England (Playing XI): Philip Salt, Jos Buttler (wk), Jacob Bethell, Tom Banton, Harry Brook (c), Sam Curran, Will Jacks, Liam Dawson, Jamie Overton, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid.
Pakistan (Playing XI): Sahibzada Farhan, Saim Ayub, Salman Agha (c), Babar Azam, Fakhar Zaman, Usman Khan (wk), Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Shaheen Afridi, Salman Mirza, Usman Tariq.
. . CDS