Salman Ali Agha terms Pakistan's triumph over USA 'clinical'

COLOMBO: Pakistan captain Salman Ali Agha was moved by his team's comfortable 32-run victory over the United States of America (USA) in the Group A match of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2026 here at the Sinhalese Sports Club (SSC) Ground here on Tuesday.

Put into bat first, the 2009 champions, who suffered an upset defeat at the hands of the associate nation in the previous edition of the T20 World Cup, racked up a massive total of 190/9 in their 20 overs, courtesy of Sahibzada Farhan's blistering half-century.

Farhan top-scored for Pakistan with a blazing 73 off 41 deliveries, studded with six fours and five sixes, while star batter Babar Azam and all-rounder Shadab Khan made vital contributions to the total with 46 and 30, respectively.

In turn, USA could muster 158/8 in 20 overs despite Shubham Ranjane's valiant half-century and Shayan Jahangir's blitz up the order.

Mystery spinner Usman Tariq spearheaded Pakistan's bowling charge with economical figures of 3/27 in his four overs, followed by Shadab's 2/26, while Shaheen Shah Afridi, Mohammad Nawaz and Abrar Ahmed chipped in with one scalp apiece.

Reflecting on his team's triumph, which was their second in as many matches of the T20 World Cup 2026, Agha credited Pakistan's strong showing with the bat in the opening and middle phases of the innings.

Agha further revealed that he was confident of Pakistan's bowling attack to defend the 191-run target, which he described as "world-class".

"Clinical performance, we started well with the bat and batted really well in the middle. When we come to bowling, we have a world-class attack and scoring 190, we know we could defend that," Agha said at the post-match presentation.

"We are Pakistani, we do it differently. We are comfortable chasing, but we try to bat first and put up above par, then try to defend," he added.

The all-rounder also lauded the flexibility of his team's batting order but acknowledged the room for improvement, particularly in their bowling during powerplays.

"We have a flexible order, first three ready to go and then finishers can go early, or if we lose wickets, we have batters who can take the game deeper," Agha continued.

"Always room for improvement, we'd like to bowl better in the powerplay, be more clinical. These are the things we want to improve," he concluded.

It is pertinent to mention that the back-to-back victories lifted Pakistan to the summit of the Group A standings of the T20 World Cup 2026, pipping arch-rivals India, whom they next face at the R Premadasa Stadium here on Sunday.