Pakistan to maintain aggressive approach till T20 World Cup: Agha

Pakistan captain Salman Ali Agha on Monday said that the national team would continue to pursue an aggressive brand of cricket in the lead-up to the ICC T20 World Cup 2026, scheduled to be held in February and March.

After a string of below-par performances in the shortest format, stemming from their dismal T20 World Cup 2024 campaign, the Green Shirts altered their strategy to catch up with the fast-paced nature of modern-day cricket, which saw Agha’s appointment as Pakistan captain, followed by the ouster of senior players like Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan.

The new strategy yielded mixed outcomes for Pakistan, as they won 17 out of 29 matches under Agha’s captaincy.

Pakistan’s most recent appearance in the format came at the ACC Men’s T20 Asia Cup 2025, where they lost to arch-rivals India thrice, including the final. The continental tournament’s heartbreak forced Pakistan to make tweaks to their pool of players, bringing in the experienced duo of Babar and Naseem Shah.

The return of the experienced players, who were considered to have gone out of favour, gave rise to the speculations of a shift in Pakistan’s ‘strategy’ for the T20Is, but Agha, while addressing the pre-series press conference here at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium, dismissed them categorically.

The Pakistan captain stressed that the team will stick to their existing strategy, which is to play according to the conditions and in line with the par score of each venue.

“As I said earlier, our strategy is to analyse the stats of each ground we play at and [when we bat] we try to breach the par score. It’s still the same strategy and it will continue until the T20 World Cup,” Agha told reporters on the eve of their three-match home T20I series against South Africa.

“So, we just have to look at the par score of a venue and try to score around 15 runs more than that so that our bowling attack can benefit from it. Similarly, when we bowl first, we try to bowl the opposition out below the par score to support our batting unit,” he explained.

It is pertinent to mention that Pakistan will bolster their preparations for next year’s T20 World Cup with a three-match home series against South Africa, scheduled to get underway here on Tuesday.

The remaining two fixtures of the series, however, 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.