Pakistan have been surrounded by a lot of controversy lately, and former Indian spinner has opened the lid on their chances in the upcoming tournament.
Pakistan have been one of the teams that have regularly found a way to make headlines ahead of the T20 World Cup 2026. The bowling action of Usman Tariq, coupled with the Pakistan Cricket Board’s (PCB) decision to withdraw from their fixture against India have attracted a lot of eyeballs to the already high-intense clash.
In the midst of all this, former India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has analysed the Men in Green purely in terms of their cricketing ability – something that not many stakeholders are up to these days. Furthermore, Ashwin has stated that the Shaheens have the ability to make their way to the semi-final of the coveted tournament.
The Indian off-spinner revealed that Pakistan have almost all of their bases covered. Not that they would not have weaknesses that the other teams can exploit, but the Men in Green have positives that slightly outweigh the negatives which can pull them down.
In his recent YouTube video of Ash ki Baat, Ashwin spoke about the reasons behind why Pakistan are the dark horses in the tournament. The fact that they play all of their games on Sri Lankan soil make them a potent weapon, with the quality of spin they possess in their arsenal.
“I think people might not like this, but I am only going to talk on the basis of cricket. I feel Pakistan have a really, really good shot at this World Cup,” Ashwin stated.
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The 39-year-old former spinner went on to establish that the opening pair of Saim Ayub and Sahibzada Farhan have been fantastic, and that will add a lot of solidarity to the batting order at the top. The duo have strike-rates of 137.47 and 135.91 in the powerplay, which has been on a steady rise.
On the bowling front, the Pakistani spinners Abrar Ahmed and Mohammad Nawaz have been instrumental in the middle-overs with their control. On top of that, Shaheen Shah Afridi needs no invitation to rattle top-orders with his swinging deliveries.
However, one of the biggest x-factors for Pakistan in this tournament will be Usman Tariq. A lot has been said about his action, with stakeholders drawing multiple conclusions, but the Pakistani spinner has been cleared for his action. His economy of 5.63 will really push Salman Agha to make a tough decision.
Though skipper Salman Agha at No.3 is the right choice, Babar Azam in the middle-order will continue to be a cause of concern. The latter possesses a strike-rate of 127 in middle-overs, which will make it difficult for the Shaheens to accelerate. Hence, the services of someone like Fakhar Zaman would be extremely useful.
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