PAKISTAN kept themselves in the Asia Cup with a nervy win over Sri Lanka. Salman Ali Agha’s team were far from convincing, but a half century partnership between Hussain Talat and Mohammad Nawaz saw the boys in green to victory. Three sixes from Nawaz secured a five wicket victory after Pakistan had the best of the conditions after deciding to bowl first.

It was a toss of dreams. The atmosphere was humid. The pitch was spicy and Pakistan had the ball in their hands. Within the first six overs Pakistan had taken three Sri Lankan wickets, with Shaheen Shah Afridi being the chief destroyer.

The match itself was do-or-die for both teams. Whichever side lost would be all but out of the tournament, the victor would effectively face a semi-final complicated by run rate in its next match.

Shaheen was Pakistan’s star bowler. He is now showing glimmers of the form that made him a global wonder. And while the Shaheen of 2025 hurt Sri Lanka with two wickets in his opening spell, you just wonder what the Shaheen of yore would have achieved in these bowling conditions? Much of the pace is back; the aggression never left him. But Shaheen is not the laser guided bowler that he once was.

And while we’re picking the bones out of the bowling effort, you have to wonder what goes through the minds of Pakistan’s “seasoned” bowlers? Two days ago against India, defending a total of 171, it was hard to understand what the bowling plan was? Here, a serious bowler would have immediately decided that a tight line of attack just back of a length would be absolutely unplayable. Yet Pakistan’s bowlers had other ideas and didn’t find that sweet zone frequently enough.

This leads us to the selection for this game. Hussain’s inclusion was entirely justified by the impact he had in his overs, however, Mohammad Nawaz was once again curiously selected as a hitter. If you have a batting slot, fill it with a hitter. Pakistan has few hitters capable of seizing control of a T20 match. The other Nawaz, Hasan, is one of those but Pakistan had again benched him.

Pakistan’s bowling was good enough although not exceptional. In part, Sri Lanka contributed to their own downfall by going hard on a pitch that deserved a degree of caution. A dozen or more runs and Pakistan might have floundered. The Sri Lanka batting order probably knows no other way, but any successful team must be capable of adapting to circumstances. What is true of Sri Lanka is also true of Pakistan.

The target set by Sri Lanka was below par for Abu Dhabi though not so substandard given the conditions in the first six overs of their innings. It would have been more than 134 without Shaheen and Haris Rauf only conceding 14 runs in the last two overs. By the time Pakistan took the crease, there was still some swing in the air but the zip off the seam had mostly gone.

In reply, Sahibzadah Farhan was again Pakistan’s main man. His success comes from hitting straight and true, with an occasional bottom handed flick to midwicket. The next step for Farhan is to turn these valuable contributions into decisive ones. His opening partner, Fakhar Zaman, has played his share of influential knocks. Here, Fakhar was in one of his frustrating, unfluent moods that rarely bring success.

Still, the openers had set Pakistan well on their way but a regulation middle order collapse was triggered by some excellent spin bowling from Wanindu Hasaranga. It’s perplexing that Pakistan just don’t know how to play this phase of the game. The plodding approach that they chose was probably wrong on every count. Playing without urgency invited pressure, even when chasing a small total. Pakistan also needed to do everything they could to improve their net run rate.

With the loss of four quick wickets, the match was suddenly very much in the balance. Pakistan’s fate rested in the hands of Nawaz, a man with a record of failing to deliver under pressure, and Hussain, full of confidence from his bowling effort. In fairness, both played their part, making Hasaranga look ordinary in his final two overs.

This was an important win for Pakistan. The defeats to India have been demoralising. And Pakistan will be desperate to show Suryakumar Yadav what rivalry really means in next Sunday’s final. But this was a big day for Nawaz. He has stumbled previously in these circumstances and the question now is whether he can become a consistent finisher at international level. His critics, including this author, will be far from convinced but happy to be proved wrong.

Pakistan are a team that doesn’t inspire confidence, but they live to fight another day. That’s probably as much as we can expect.

Published in Dawn, September 24th, 2025