T20 World Cup 2026: ‘We missed the opportunity to build partnerships’ – Shaheen Afridi reflects on loss to England

Shaheen Shah Afridi admitted that if Pakistan had scored an additional 15-25 runs, they might have been able to defend their total against England. On the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium track, Pakistan posted 164/9, which proved insufficient as England chased it down with two wickets and five balls to spare.

Afridi noted that the pitch had not been used earlier in the tournament and was generally better for batting. In contrast, during England’s previous match against Sri Lanka at the same ground, there had been more assistance for bowlers, but conditions were markedly different in the February 24 game.

“I feel in a wicket like this you need a partnership and you need a set batsman in that position who can bat throughout the middle overs. But unfortunately we lost wickets back to back, which is why we did not go for that 180-190 score. If you see, when England batted, Harry Brook stayed at the crease and he was rotating the strike and he was just building partnerships. I think we missed this opportunity to build partnerships,” said Afridi as quoted by ESPNcricinfo.

“A partnership means you have to have somebody in the crease who can go for single and twos. Throughout a T20 innings you need those eight or nine runs an over, if you want to build a partnership as well. I think that middle phase Adil Rashid bowled really well, so I think the credit goes to him as well,” he added.

The match marked a return to form for Afridi, who had struggled with the ball in Pakistan’s first three games. He struck early, having Phil Salt caught behind with the very first ball, and went on to finish with impressive figures of 4 for 30. Afridi’s final wicket in the match was that of centurion Harry Brook.

“Whenever I play, my job is to take wickets early. That’s why I’m bowling first over. Today I’d been planning how I’d take that first wicket,” said Afridi.