Pakistan vs Sri Lanka, ICC T20 World Cup 2026: Babar Azam was not included in Pakistan's playing XI for their final Super 8 match against Sri Lanka in the ongoing ICC T20 World Cup 2026 at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium on Saturday, February 28. Having already been eliminated from the semifinal qualification race, Sri Lanka won the toss and opted to field first with an aim to finish their campaign on a high.
Pakistan are still alive in the competition, but they need to fulfil a few different equations in order to go past New Zealand in the Group 2 standings and qualify for the semifinal. Their first match in the Super 8 stage against the Blackcaps was washed out before they suffered a defeat against England in the last game. Babar's exclusion was one of the three changes Pakistan made for the all-important clash.
While Babar Azam, Salman Mirza and Saim Ayub were dropped, Pakistan brought back Naseem Shah, Khawaja Nafay and Abrar Ahmed in their lineup. "It’s a massive opportunity. We just need to play a perfect game, bowl well, bat well, and field well, and I think everything will be fine. Yeah, we would have bowled first definitely, but there is no way we can do that while batting. So you just need to put up a good total and try to restrict them," Pakistan captain Salman Agha said at the toss.
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Babar's absence from the side amid the heavy criticism the senior batter has faced lately is due to his disappointing form in the T20I format. Specifically, his batting strike rate in the shortest format has been under the scanner for a while now, and a similar kind of story forced the team management to take a big call. This is the first time after 45 matches that Babar has been left out of the playing XI despite being part of Pakistan's T20I squad.
On the other hand, Sri Lanka also introduced multiple changes as Kamil Mishara and Janith Liyanage replaced Kusal Mendis and Dushan Hemantha.
Pakistan vs Sri Lanka Playing XIs, ICC T20 World Cup 2026:
Pakistan (Playing XI): Sahibzada Farhan, Fakhar Zaman, Salman Agha(c), Khawaja Nafay, Usman Khan(w), Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah, Abrar Ahmed, Usman Tariq
Sri Lanka (Playing XI): Pathum Nissanka, Kamil Mishara(w), Charith Asalanka, Pavan Rathnayake, Kamindu Mendis, Dasun Shanaka(c), Janith Liyanage, Dunith Wellalage, Maheesh Theekshana, Dushmantha Chameera, Dilshan Madushanka